Dead or Alive 5: Damned Spirit
by Alitolexlto
Summary: Dante questions what he really is put on the Earth to do. However, it seems that answer will be known by joining contenders of the DOA tournament. However, a sinister plot will reveal itself unto him and the DOA fighters as a great evil is will rise. Tribute to DOA4: Devil factor. Warning: Using reboot Dante and DmC reboot. (WILL CONTINUE)
1. 1: Binding Fate of Souls

**Hey everyone! Alito here to bring you a sneak peak or first chapter of my newest fanfic to come soon. I'm not sure how much time I'll be able to turn all the chapters in, but I hope to have some fun with this particular fanfic. This is a tribute the writer of DOA4:The Devil Factor for giving me the inspiration to make the first chapter, so I hope he likes it too. Be sure to review guys to tell me how it is.**

**The story is the beginning of DOA5, and before DmC (the reboot one).**

**So then let's begin this!**

**Chapter 1: **_**Binding fate**_

* * *

**UNKNOWN AREA**

**OUTER**** SEA**

**8:32 a.m.**

As if the sun couldn't shine any brighter on such a strange and unprepared day, the curtains of her room still held darkness within them. She had been on her laptop all day, getting last minute adjustments within her investment protocols to make sure no hackers decide to gain any information on her company's secrets. She made the mistake of not taking this precautionary measure once before, and she certainly wasn't going to let that happen again. Though she was perfectly well dressed and her blond long hair brushed and hung in a pony tail, along with all her cosmetics intact upon her face, she was still stressed beyond a single cup of coffee could fix. Her desk was cluttered with file papers mixed with lyrics for opera.

The beautiful French entrepreneur known as Helena Douglas didn't bother to go to sleep the night before. Not with so much to be done and all. Especially now of all times. Though two years have passed, the esteemed DOATEC has yet to reach the height it was under the mad man Donovan and she planned to get it there before this year was up.

"_Goodness, I am tired_…" Helena muttered in French. She had enough of her busy workaholic night and simply rolled away from the computer's bright light. She stood up, but felt wobbly from sitting there all night and her legs getting use to standing once more with aching results. She strolled to her window and quickly open the blinds, making her shut her eyes tightly. She felt as though she was some vampire who was desperately trying to avoid the sun and jokingly hoping that her hunger for food wasn't from blood craving.

Helena walked out of her room and took a small stroll down her hallway to which her small dog suddenly appeared to her, looking as hyper as can be. Helena couldn't help but smile as she kneed down to cuddle her adorable puppy. It had been ages that she got to even cuddle her dog, and she at least wanted to make the most of her canine companion. "_Aw, I know someone enjoying the nice boat trip I see._" She cooed in French. The dog replied with a small bark while Helena rubbed its small tummy to its delight.

"Yo! Helena!"

The dog quickly galloped out of Helena's grasp and trot off away from the loud and startling voice.

Helena sighed and slowly rose to put on a smile and turn to the man before her. "Ah, Zack. SO good to see you today." She said in English but still with a French accent.

"Yep. You too." The African American with shades and a suit smiled. "Just thought I'd pop right into the scene!"

"And "popped in" you have…" Helena certainly agreed but was irritably annoyed.

"So anyway, about this request you keep askin' me about?" Zack bragged confidently with his hands on his hips. "What's the job that you need the mackin', supa fly, Zack to do, huh?-!"

Helena couldn't stand that flamboyance of him, but this wasn't the issue she really needed to focus on as of now. The real issue she had on her mind was one that involved a special little idea that was swimming within her thoughts for over a year now. And today was the day to get it all started.

"Ah yes, my request." Helena nodded passively, "Let us speak somewhere more private."

"Private?" Zack repeated.

"Yes. I fear that there could be _wandering_ ears listening." Helena put quite the emphasis on the word "wandering". Like she was particularly calling out to something to let it know she could see them, or to make someone reveal themselves from their hiding spots, but Zack didn't put much thought into it at all since he obviously couldn't comprehend this into his fame-filled brain.

"Follow me." Helena walked past Zack and down the hall that was overlooking the deep blue and open sea. Zack quickly followed her, and the two retired into her office that was conveniently by her very room. She took one last glance in the hall way cautiously, and slowly closed the door behind her and Zack.

Though Helena decided to use the office as her discussion place, from the shadows of the ledge over-looking the hallway appeared a single young woman who was greatly insulted. This young woman had copper brown long hair in a top knot-like hairstyle and was dressed in blue Ninja-oriented dress with a wakizashi tied on the back of her waist.

"It seems I've been left out." Kasumi sighed in her Japanese language, but still looked towards the door with a troubled expression. "Helena…How long will you keep me in the dark for…Where is she?"

**UNITED STATES,**

**NEW YORK CITY BRIDGE,**

**SAME TIME**

If there was one word to describe his life, it would be called "hell on earth" for a number of reasons. What with his bad track records of crime that soared through the roof, the sheer destruction of public property, and the ever-lasting suffering of his well-being. But here's the catch; the humans don't even know how much suffering he's really going through. They stay oblivious to the actual scenes going on right in front of them behind an invisible wall.

Sometimes he wondered why he even bothers save them. Why open their eyes? What could they possibly benefit from seeing the constant blood and gore of the underbelly of their own damn city?

They were only wasting Dante's time.

Dante could only stand there, leaning over the bridge, looking at the early sunrise appear in front of him. The cars zooming to get to their destinations didn't even faze him, as he completely ignored everything but the sunrise before him. He was dressed in a black shirt, black ripped up jeans, and dark brown combat boots. He also wore a black leather hooded coat with red interior and the Union Jack on his left arm. Around his neck was an old scarf, a red jeweled necklace, and on his hands were an old pair of wool gloves. His clothes looked battered and old with small rips on his coat and stitches on his jeans. He scratched his black short cropped hair that had a tad bit of silvery in it, and was buzzed on the sides with a mohawk-like finish in the back of his head. He gazed his cold blue eyes at the sun gazing back at him. Sometimes, Dante felt the sun was the only thing he could rely on and that it made the terrible darkness go away from Dante's life.

"Good ol' sunrise." Dante smiled, "Missed ya."

Though he was one to learn to live life to the fullest, he didn't exactly have a full life of enjoyment. From the constant torturing, and the fighting he's had to endure his entire life, it sometimes made him question himself in what his true purpose on Earth was. Why was he born? What was waiting for him? How long will he have…? How did he survive that fight? That awful fight that turned out to be very important. Just the thought of it brought the terrible revelation pouring back to him that he had honestly never believed to be true.

He wasn't human.

"But if I'm not human…what am I?"

The thoughts in his head stopped as the unsettling roar from his stomach started to rear its ugly head. Dante clutched his gut and chuckled. "Yeah yeah, I hear ya. Let's get you full."

**NEW YORK,**

**MIXED MARTIAL ARTS GYM,**

**8:35 a.m.**

The near-by gym was never without a group of tough, weight-lifting male fighters, duking it out in the ring, and competing while training to get stronger then the next opponent they fight. It was reeking with the stench of sweat and metal along with the scent of work out equipment which made for a perfect surrounding of men who wanted to hone their skills to the fullest potential they could muster.

It's hard to believe a woman would call this her second home. Then again, it mostly depends on the woman.

And this special woman just so happen to be sparring in the ring on this day as well. She was already sweating greatly while bringing punch after punch onto her opponent and was, in no intention, holding back on him. The poor opponent probably expected to get an easy victory, but he was terribly mistaken for underestimating this blood red-haired woman. Though her body was petite and her face carried that of a young woman just entering her twenties, her eyes and fist were burning with a will of a true competitor. On lookers were virtually impressed with her vigorous prowess to getting stronger, while others were paying attention to something else bouncing besides her feet.

The red head decided to finish off her towering opponent with a barrage of gloved fist that were making small craters in the poor male's stomach and finally she brought a fist back and sent it shooting right into the man's gut, instinctively making him crouch down on the floor and clutch his stomach in absolute pain.

"O-Oh no! I-I'm sorry!" The red head apologized frantically, "I-I didn't mean to hit you THAT hard!-!"

I-its okay, Mila…" The opponent groaned. "Y-You're getting strong…! I-I'm so proud of you…!"

"Really?-!" Mila gleamed. "Th-Thanks, Michael…! S-So…" She turned from excited to bashful with her face redden. She even fidgeted a bit as she took quick glances from Michael to the ground. "Um…About our date tonight…"

She never saw Michael again. To think one trip to the bathroom would result in her alone…again. Mila dragged her feet down the busy city streets to her job, dressed in tomboyish street clothes, her workers fatigue hat with the advertisement; "_Johnny's Diner_" on the front of it, and was carrying her work-out bag on her shoulder. She was as solemn as can be right now, and really couldn't understand what to do. True Mila couldn't help that she was a bit tougher then the men at that gym, but she certainly couldn't accept being looked at as a weakling. Mila loved to fight, and the only way to have more of them was to train and be strong. But what good was strength when all she was doing was punching her potential boyfriends in the stomach during a small practice round.

"That's it!" Mila decided, "I need to get a grip on this MMA stuff if I'm ever gonna get to dating. That or find a stronger guy."

She sighed. She doubted that a bit. It wasn't like she was blind in realizing that there _are_ stronger men existed or anything. She just wished she didn't attract blow harts that talk a big game, but have nothing to even back it up. That was the worst for her to deal with, and she was sick of it. Michael was the only guy whom she felt was really different from the others, but he, too, took a jump out the bathroom window and high-tailed it out of there. There had to be more then what she had to work within the city. Someone who was strong, ready to go, and attractiveness wouldn't hurt.

"Yeah…" Mila smiled, "Like I'm gonna find that kind of guy anytime soon—oomph!"

Mila's fantasy thinking cost her attention of where she was walking by accidently bumping into someone. "O-Oh, I'm sorry about that!" Mila apologized.

"Don't worry about it." The young man replied passively. He caught a quick look at Mila and, honestly had to say; he was impressed. A smokin' body like hers and what a rack she was packing too. The young man couldn't help but smirk a bit.

"UUh…What is it?" Mila asked, "Is there something on my face?"

"Naw, it's just—"

As if to literally kill his game-talking just for the hell of it, his stomach growled something fierce and was groaning for food right away. The young man could only scratch his black hair and feel a bit embarrassed for that, but not enough to turn red or quickly walk away. "Sorry. Just a bit hungry, that's all."

"Hungry, huh?" Mila smiled. "Well you're in luck. I happen to work at a diner not too far from here. Johnny's diner. You heard of it?"

"A few things."

"Great! I'll take you there!" Mila gleefully smiled.

"What? You don't have to do that." Dante shrugged indifferently, "I'll get there my—"

"Really! I don't mind, Mr…! Um…What's your name?"

"Dante."

Mila dropped her smile and it was replaced with inquiry. "Dante...Where have I heard that name before?" Mila knew she had heard such a name before, but couldn't quite put her finger on where that was. She shrugged it off as a common mistake and said "Oh well. Still a cool name though. Anyway, just follow me, alright?"

"You're not gonna give me a choice, are ya?" Dante suspected with a small smirk.

"You're a quick learner." Mila winked. "Now come on."

She grabbed Dante's arm and dragged him with her down the street. One of the reasons Mila was doing this was to at least earn some extra money from her job, what with the days being slow in the morning times. That and she had just lost her possible boyfriend a few minutes ago, and thought she might as well try again at some point. Why not now?

Dante, however, didn't really care much about the whole matter, since he was getting food and all…to bad money would have been a proper thing to consummate the meal. "_Looks like I'm dinin' and dashin' again._" Dante thought, "_Too bad. She's pretty fit, too._" A coy smile grew on Dante's face. However, that smile quickly faded off him as he felt an all too familiar feeling within the city walls and streets alike. It made him feel absolutely dreadful and sick as it filled the air and was eroding the calmness within the busy streets. He naturally expected no one else to be experiencing the effects of what was happening, but strangely enough some people were starting to cough violently and others were covering their noses. That was something new for Dante to see; humans being effected by _that _realm.

Even so, he could tell they were coming…He could hear them faintly…calling for him…hungry for his blood…

"Hey." Dante said, getting Mila's attention as they walked, "Your diner's got insurance, right?"

"Yeah." Mila nodded in confusion, "Why?"

"No reason."

**UNKNOWN AREA**

**OUTER**** SEA**

**SAME TIME**

"You were attacked…by creatures?"

"Yes. And we believe it has something to do with a certain company that use to cause a whole lot of suffering years ago. Ring any bells?"

"I understand what you are saying, but I assure you this has nothing to do with—"

"I did not say it was from _you_, Helena."

Helena sat back in her office chair, feeling rather insulted at the point which was getting reached. Most likely she knew what he was getting to, but at least wanted to make sure if it was a correct point or not.

"What are you implying, Bayman?" Helena asked her casual dressed companion. She did admit he was rather out of his element in those clothes and not in his military uniform. His muscles were making that white shirt stretch, and the clothes themselves were quite plain. If not for his hard expression and rough appearance, Helena never would have guessed this was the same Russian man who's killed hundreds.

"I think you and I both know what I am referring to." Bayman hinted, "That bastard has been quiet for the past three years. TOO quiet for my taste."

"A wasted concern." Helena denied, sipping her iced tea, letting the cooling taste dance to her taste buds, and let out a sigh. "Donovan may have been silent in his absence from DOATEC, but also realize that I have taken all that he has gained from his dastardly planning as well. Including the money that was poured into this organization, all of its business signings, and of course, all that carries DOATEC's name." Helena didn't mean to boast on her success, but it sure did feel satisfying to do, but she kept a straight face in talking to Bayman. "He is only left with a few men and women and clones, compared to me, who has the entire nation of DOATEC at my finger tips. Do the math."

Bayman snorted. She truly was getting too big for her britches. "Even so, I cannot help but feel Donovan is involved in all of this."

"Well can you at least tell me as to what the creatures looked like?" Helena said, wanting to get something informal out of this.

"The creatures were not quick in movement, but their numbers were massive." Bayman recalled, getting every detail into his description. "They were all the same. They had terrible gnawing fangs and sharp bloody claws, along with deer-shaped horns on them…They were obviously not of this Earth…Nor did they seem human made."

"Well there is your proof. " Helena waved her hands up and rose from her chair to stroll past Bayman. "Donovan is indeed human, and as such, a gruesome creature, such as you described, can't possibly be made by him. Be happy you lived knowing Donovan isn't the one trying to kill you." Helena said, as she took a seat on the black couch and looked directly at the beautiful sea in the horizon. "However, the fact that you have seen such creatures does worry me a bit. I will make sure to assign scientist to look into any strange phenomenon as you described. Though it is not a very accurate description to start with."

"Humph! So sorry I do not have a keen eye while almost being mauled to death." Bayman seemed to be trying sarcasm, though you wouldn't tell by the way his expression never changed. "Anyway, that's all I can offer. Try not to let yourself get over-confident." He walked to the door and as it closed behind him, he looked over his shoulder and said, "If you do, you will fall just as Donovan had."

The door hit the ceil with an echoing sound that ringed Helena's ears just as Bayman's last words filled her thoughts. She was on the verge of throwing anything at the door just to get rid of her rising anger she felt for the Russian military man. How dare he insult her after all she has done to get to where she is now. The road was long and paved with trials and tribulations both good and bad, but she stuck it out and moved on to make DOATEC the best it could be. Sure, she may have been getting a bit over-confident, but anyone would in their rise to glory being ever so close.

She took a deep breath, calming herself down of Bayman's trivial words, and looked over her shoulder to speak. "So…how long have you been sitting there, Kasumi?"

From behind the pillar's shadows, the young copper haired, blue-dressed, Kasumi appeared meekly but also mournfully to the eyes of the French woman.

"Helena…" Kasumi said sorrowful.

"You know it is not right to eavesdrop onto other's conversations." Helena told her like a kind mother to a child. She rose from the couch to talk with her face to face. "I know why you have done this though, and I am afraid that Alpha has nothing to do with what happened to Bayman and his fellow troops."

Kasumi was gloom-stricken once more. With each passing day, she wished to see her clone once again to finish what began long ago, but that seemed to be very doubtful the more she waited for Helena to tell her something. What was she to do? She certainly couldn't give up here. She needed answers and she needed them now. "I can't accept that." Kasumi pressed on, "I beg you! Please tell me so I can put an end to all this!"

Helena felt that she had been keeping too much from Kasumi, but telling her anything would probably make her leave too soon. But she didn't like seeing the poor girl in pain right in front of her, so she walked right pass Kasumi and said, "Honestly…I do not know. Alpha-152 was a one of a kind. DOATEC's first artificial combat life form..." She stopped walking and looked back at Kasumi, realizing that these words weren't exactly a comforting factor to the ninja at all. "…But rest assured. We will find heart at all cost. I promise, Kasumi."

"I can't wait any longer." Kasumi turned to Helena, "If I can't get any answers from you, then I'll have no choice…I have to find _him_ in order to reach Alpha."

"Him?" Helena inquired. "Who is this "_him_"?"

"He's the one who's connected to Alpha somehow. I don't know why I suddenly know him, or why he's so important as of now, but I just have a gut feeling that he could be an great asset to me in order to do what I must with my clone. I must find him no matter what the cost. He is my key to searching for Alpha." Kasumi said with determination. "And I promise…I will find the son of Sparda…I will find Dante."

Meanwhile deep within the treacherous seas of the ship, deep down into the tundra's of the mighty depths, an ever-looming evil threatens to bring suffering to those that cross its path. Though it has been laid to rest so very long ago, its awakening brought forth a great tremor of the Earth beneath it. Its eyes glowed of red fiery hatred for all humans and living things alike for its eternal slumber being interrupted and he could only blame the one sole creature that defied him, and sent him into the bottomless sea.

It uttered his name dreadfully and full of hatred…

_**SPARDA…**_


	2. 2: Ambush in NY

**Hey everyone! Alito again to bring you chapter 2! I'm learning a lot about DOA to be able to do this fanfic, though the times that all this takes place is kind of hard to get connected into one fanfic. But I think I'm getting good bases on what part goes where, so there's that.**

**So then let's begin this!**

**Chapter 2: Ambush**

* * *

**NEW YORK**

**JOHNNY'S DINER**

**8:42 a.m.**

The door swung open at the Dinner known as Johnny's and strolling right in was the red haired Mila, in a very accomplished mood, with Dante being dragged in with her, much to his discomfort.

"Well, this is it!" Mila introduced Johnny's Diner onto Dante's eyes. He looked around the eating establishment and found it to be very…dull. It was like the stereotypical diner he had seen in movies and T.V shows; a jukebox on the far end of the room, the counter having round spinning chairs, and plastered all over the walls were souvenirs and pictures of past famous celebrities that ate at this very diner long ago. Dante couldn't say he was impressed by it all, but at least it wasn't like all the other back alley eatery's that have rats scurrying around and that stranger who's staring at you from the other side of the tables insanely.

"Sit here." Mila encouraged. Rather than let him pick, she quickly plopped Dante on to a seat and hurried into the back, hearing her manager calling out for her.

Dante turned his head to the right for the people who were also sitting at this table with him; an older gentleman who didn't seem to mind Dante staring at him at all, and simply kept to himself. However the other man on the far side of the counter with a large bottle of hard liquor by his side was someone way different from everyone else in this diner, but by the way he swayed from side to side ever so slowly, it was obvious that he was drunk out of his right mind. Dante knew the drunkard wasn't from around here due to his silvery hair in a pony tail and him wearing a white get-up that looked like something out of those old martial arts movies Dante watched a long time ago. "A hobo?" Dante wondered.

"Sorry for the wait." Mila came out of the back, wearing an apron on her waist and a plate in her hand. She placed it on the counter behind the one in front of Dante, and leaned on it to be up close and personal to Dante's face. "So, what'll it be?" Mila asked with a smile.

"I'll take some pizza if you got it." Dante asked.

Mila figuratively felt a pain in her gut at this man's poor choice of a decision. Especially due to the circumstances in this very diner. "Ouch. Sorry, dude. We don't serve pizza here."

Dante groaned with displeasure and a bit of irritation. "Are you serious right now?"

"Yeah, sorry." Mila looked back for a second, then leaned in closer and whispered, "Truth is my boss hates pizza. He calls it "_Italian slop_" and doesn't even try to make it when people ask if we serve it. When people do, he goes off on this giant fit and throws the customers right out of the place."

"Wow." Dante snorted in a perturbed manner. "Well that's two tons of horse shit. Guy's got some issues."

"You're tellin' me." Mila honestly agreed, though she knew she shouldn't have said that about her boss. "But once you get past that "_anti-pizza_" crap, he's really a cool guy to work for."

"Well aren't you just passive." Dante remarked with a smirk, "What next? If you see him pullin' a body-sized sack out to the back, you'll assume it's just a bag full of meat? Yeah, that ain't suspicious."

"Oh, shut up." Mila giggled, punching his shoulder playfully. She backed up a bit to let Dante get some space to order. "Anyway, anything else you might want?"

Dante looked at the menu on the table, but his eyes slowly traveled up to the Mila with a coy smile forming on his face. "Wouldn't mind gettin' some of you right about now."

Mila immediately went red in the face. "W-What?-! Whoa there! Th-That's _way_ too sudden to say!" She meekly giggled, while lightly nudging Dante by the shoulder.

"Ah well, gotta give me points for tryin'." Dante shrugged playfully. He looked back on the menu to really place his order. "Alright, alright. I'll just get a burger with fries, aaand a coke. Or is your boss a vegan too?"

"Luckily not." Mila smiled in a "matter of fact" tone. "I'll be right back with your order."

"Wonderful. Can't wait."

**UNKNOWN AREA**

**OUTTER AREA**

**SAME TIME**

Being a ninja of the Mugen Tenshin ninja clan, and its eighteenth master, Hayate was always a man who prided himself in keeping honor and peace within his village. If there was a problem, he'd always be the first one there to resolve it and make things right once more; such was the way he was taught in the way of the ninja. However he also knew that he had to at least keep up appearances of the clan itself when it came to going off on missions or traveling to execute request. So when he was cordially asked by Lady Helena to appear before her in person, he knew he had to represent his honored clan in all they do. This involved cutting his copper-colored hair a bit shorter, wearing a black headband, and donning proper black ninja armor. He also carried his sacred katana; the Jinran-Maru, on his back along with an assortment of ninja weapons all either strapped to his person, or carefully hidden within his uniform.

There was also another thing Hayate never really fond of… flying. And helicopters weren't exactly what he would call "safe & sound assurance", not only that, but wearing those annoying earphones were pain enough for him to deal with.

"Sorry I had to get'cha while you were on a mission already." Zack apologized, almost having to yell it out.

"It doesn't concern me." Hayate said somberly, "Be lucky the location was close to her ship. I just need to know what I'm getting myself into as of now. What exactly does Lady Helena want with me?"

"Who knows? Maybe she's tryin' to set you up with someone." Zack jested playfully while nudging Hayate.

"Wait. What do you mean set me up?" Hayate inquired with worry. He had had enough of being s set up. Sneak attacks, experiments, falling into traps and all. If he really was being set up by Lady Helena again with her experiments, then he was right to bring weapons.

Zack turned to Hayate and could see that caution and combat-ready look in his eyes. Zack then realized that Hayate couldn't understand the lingo of the modern city and thought set up meant being attacked.

"Hahaha, Aw, don' worry 'bout it." Zack assured Hayate. "I meant that she probably just wanted to talk to ya." Zack then went into recollection of the past. "Man, can you believe it's been two years now? That was some sick shit back then! The Ninjas vs. DOATEC! An all out showdown! Woo! And that tower! Right up in flames!" Zack calmed down, remembering he was still flying the helicopter, and Hayate wouldn't let him live if they survived. "Anyway, now that Helena's in charge, it's all good. Hell, I've been doin' some work for them too, and let me tell ya, they've really turned around. Oh! We're here! Home sweet ho—W-What the…?-!"

Zack was horrified, along with Hayate, to see that the large ship had suffered a few casualties while Zack was gone. There were small fires forming on the ship, some of the structures of the ship had been battered with dents in them, and—upon further inspection, the ground had large craters from the height they were up, obviously indicating a hard battle was fought there awhile ago.

"Oh my God! What happen to—Whoa!-!" Suddenly, there peaceful safe landing turned into a catastrophe out of a horror movie as something grabbed the very chopper and roughly shaked it to the ocean!

"W-Whoa! The hell's goin' on here?-!" Zack panicked, trying to get the gear to go, but that was utterly useless as the helicopter was being dragged slowly to the sea surface! The beeping of the emergency alert was going off frantically, giving Hayate a reason to finally remove those infernal headphones and unbuckle his seatbelt. He quickly grabbed Zack and the two leaped from the helicopter as it was rushed into the ocean with a loud splash.

Hayate landed onto the ocean liner's helicopter parking and dropped Zack from his arm. "Wh-What the hell happen here?-! Terrorist?-!" Zack exclaimed, while scrambling to get up.

"No. Something else…something with claws." Hayate pointed at the three gashes that lined the ground. The long trails lead right to the main part of the ship on the far side of the ship's deck. "It seems that they were going right for Lady Helena."

"Damn. Hope Kasumi's doin' okay up there." Zack worried.

"What?-! Kasumi's here?-!" Hayate exclaimed frantically.

"Y-Yeah! I think she's with Helena, but I'm sure she's good, bro!" Zack quickly said.

A sudden wave of grief washed upon Hayate's face along with concern and shock all in one emotion. He didn't except that Kasumi could be in danger of getting killed by whatever strange forces were at work here. Even if she is a traitor to the Mugen Tenshin Ryu, Hayate wasn't going to sit and accept her sister being in such danger on his watch. He had to make a move.

"Let's go!" Hayate demanded. He ran right for the main deck with Zack following behind him, but both suddenly stopped in their tracks upon the sudden arrival of a few human sized creatures on the other side of the ship. They were dark and menacing by the way the simply stood there, not moving at all.

"W-What're those black things?-!" Zack asked, while getting into a Muay Thai stance.

"I don't know." Hayate said with a hand on his sword's handle, ready to draw. "But they're in the way."

The black-colored creatures screeched a horrid sound, and their claws quickly extended from their hands. Their teeth glowed a blood red hue along with their eyes bleeding the color.

They all screeched out the same name…

"_**SPARDA…"**_

**UNITED STATES**

**NEW YORK**

**A FEW MINUTES LATER**

While Mila was still retreated to the back, Dante sat there, waiting impatiently for his meal while tapping the table arithmetically. He looked back at the drunken one on the other end, and found he was already out like a lamp. Dante couldn't help but snicker at the white haired strange man, hoping that he never hits that low of his life. Every now and then he's gotten so drunk he's proposed to inanimate objects, but that was only a few times. Those were only to get rid of the depression he felt every now and then. The depression he received from…_them_.

"_**...TE…"**_

Dante shot his attention to the window behind him, but didn't react right away. He was still slumped over the table, but his eyes were pierced to the side to make sure he could still feel the evil presence that was practically making itself known to him from behind him. They caught up with Dante.

"…_**ANTE…"**_

Dante was ever so cautious of his surroundings and tension filled his body to the chill of a bone. He was unsure what was to come or what to expect. How many would there be this time? Could he be able to kill them off like the last time, or have they learned from that mistake? What would be the result of all this and who would be at stake now? He finally got up from the table, and turned his seat to the front of the window, his heart racing rapidly for whatever would be arriving this time. His hand slowly etching to the back of his pants, ready for whatever threat would come crashing through that window. Though it was calm outside, hell was about to break lose.

"…_**DANTE…!"**_

"Here we go…" Dante said as he practically grabbed them, and—!

"Yoo-hoo! Anyone in this her' place?-!"

Dante suddenly turned his attention to the swung open door and the quite obnoxious country accented blond woman barging right through. The woman was the perfect "Daisy Dukes" stereotype only with longer shorts, a plaid short hoodie, boots, and a black cowboy hat. But that personally was really feeding into the tropes.

Dante turned his attention back to the dark feeling, only to find it completely vanished from his senses. He was confused as to how that dread could suddenly vanish on him. That or maybe he was finally going insane from all the misfortune he's endured. He disregarded it, let go of what he was about to whip out, and turned back to the front of the desk, checking out this sudden new girl walking in to the diner.

Her nicely formed hips going side to side with each walk she made was definitely something Dante couldn't ignore. "_Damn. Wouldn't mind playin' reverse cowgirl with that._" Dante thought. However there was something familiar about the blond cowgirl. Her name was on the tip of his tongue but nothing could click."_Oh well…_"

The blond long haired cowgirl noticed the black haired young male eying her up and down, and couldn't help but relish another valued fan, acknowledging her great assets and nice figure. Though she wished her fans would look at her with more respect than just a playboy cover girl, or a model, or a rocker, or any of that stuff. Maybe she could settle for those executive roles or rich girl titles. No, she wanted something higher than that. But what could be worthy for the great Tina Armstrong?

She took a seat and stretched her arms up in the air, again making note of the impressive rack she had, which of course, Dante was checking out. Tina turned to him, and smiled coyly as she said with her Southern accent, "Like whatcha see, handsome?"

"I don't know. You askin' what I like, or what I'm gonna get?" Dante smirked back, "Keep playin' around and you might actually get my attention."

"Sorry. I don't do poor youngins'. Come on back when you get yourself some better lookin' clothes, and a cooler haircut." Tina remarked.

"Oh, so the cowgirl's got jokes, huh?" Dante flirted, "Don't worry; everything looks the same with the lights off."

Tina was impressed. He really was sharp with his tongue, and quick with his line delivery. She wondered if this black coated man was some actor trying to fit into everyday life, or he's rehearsed these lines before she stepped into the establishment. Maybe she was getting punk'd.

She didn't really care right now. A little fun would do her some good with the boredom she's been going through. Tina turned to Dante with a promiscuous smile. "Ooh. You're just a slippery lil snake, ain't cha?"

"Trust me; I'm all King snake here." Dante grinned.

"Well then…"

Tina was suddenly interrupted with her comeback by the sudden sound of glass braking in the back of the kitchen. Both of them turned their utmost attention towards the sound as it was getting worse with stuff falling to the ground and more glass shattering to pieces. It wasn't exactly something easy to ignore since it was most loud even for the customers to hear.

"Wha' in tarnations is goin' on back there?" Tina questioned.

"I got a good idea." Dante estimated as he slowly reached for the back of his pants once again. However, before he could make a move right away, a large male came from the back, and had, by the looks of it, Dante's order of a burger with fries in hand. It looked fresh and mouth-watering to the human eye. Heck, even Dante was almost falling for the delicious morsel.

"And here ya go!" The man said kindly with a New Yorker's accent. "Enjoy the food."

Tina was completely captivated by the whiff of the burger and her stomach was aching for something other than salads and protein shakes. "MM-MM! That's sure smells good! I'll have what he's havin'."

"I don't think you'll want what I'm havin'." Dante said then turned to the male waiter. "Hey. Where's the red head that was out here a minute ago?"

"O-Oh! She went on a break! Dames, Y'know how they is." The man smiled. "So then, what else can I bring you, sir?"

"Sir? What, now you got amnesia?" Dante smirked. "You don't remember my name anymore? I'm kinda surprised. I thought your kind was supposed to hate me with all their shitty little hearts."

The older gentleman who sat on the side of Dante suddenly stood from his seat and cup of coffee to approach the black haired male. Tina was on-looking, happy that she could get some excitement around here. "Hey there, young man! That's no way to talk to your elders! I got a right mind to call the police on you, and let them knock some sense in ya!"

"Cops? Ha, that's funny." Dante slowly turned to him, holding a very sardonic smirk on his face as he looked over at the old man. "I thought demons were supposed to be higher than the law."

Everyone in the room froze in their places. The elder man looked confused and also a tad bit nervous for some particular reason. The counter man seemed to have a terrible poker face as his eyes were darting around the room as if something was about to happen any minute now. Dante didn't move at all. He held his sadistic eyes on the poor old man. And the white haired, Chinese clothes wearing man on the other side…well he was still drunk sleeping.

"Demon? The hell you talkin' about?" Tina inquired with obvious disbelief. "You sure you ain't takin' too many guzzles of the Jesus Juice, buddy?"

Dante ignored her statement and turned back to the counter man. "You. You must be the manager, right?"

"Y-Yeah I am."

"Go make me a pizza instead. Then I'll go. Deal?" Dante offered a hand to shake with. Dante could see the manager was unsure of whether or not he should, but must have figured the sooner the better in his case.

"O-Okay." He grasped Dante's hand tightly. "I'll get you that pizza then."

"NO! YOU FOOL!-!" Cried the elder man, to which the manager turned to him. "THE HUMAN MANAGER HATED MAKING PIZZA!-!"

The manager whirled his head back at Dante to break the handshake and be free from his grasp, but it was already too late.

A bullet shot to the head too late.

Blood splattered all over the back wall and some even got on the food as well! The manager was shot in cold-blood by Dante's strange-looking black handgun that was held in his left hand with the barrel still smoking. Tina was shocked of the sudden turn of events that escalated to a higher level than before! "H-Hey! What was that fo—Wh-What?-!"

Tina turned back to the poor man whose head was shot in and noticed that he was trembling a bit. Then the trembling turned to pure vibrating and gurgling out foam. His eyes turned pure white and he was seemingly having some sort of seizure. The other elder man was also trembling with no eye pupils in at all. The only one that wasn't doing this in the restaurant was Dante, Tina, Mila—if she wasn't dead yet, and—once again, the drunken man who was still knocked out.

"What's goin' on with em'?-!" Tina shot from her seat, horrified but on the defensive.

"You can see this happening? You must be as fucked up as I am." Dante jested in a casual manner while still grasping the man's wrist. "Anyway, these assholes must've really gotten under these humans' skins. Get it? Skins? Is this thing on?"

"D-_D__**-D-DAAANTEEEE!-!-!"**_ Both howled in watery voices that were quite…demonic. Their heads ripped right open with blood going everywhere behind their heads and their faces falling off to reveal horrid faced monsters that were snarling at Dante and sharp horns protruding from their heads, all blooded up and all.

"Say my name, bitches!" Dante grinned as he shoved the barrel of his black gun into the demon's mouth and relentlessly pulled the trigger right into its mouth and it growling in complete pain! From there, the elder man demon came running at the black haired male with claws forming from its hands, but Dante kicked out his leg into the demon's gut and while it clutched it in pain, Dante grabbed a twin handgun that was light grey to let off another round of shots right at its face! He pushed the manager's corpse back and shot right at the elder demon more times until if fell back to the ground.

"Ah, love the smell of demon blood in the morning." Dante larked, while twirling his right gun in his hand. He looked over his shoulder at Tina, who could only stare at Dante in the most unexpected way to him…excitement in her eyes.

"Well shoot, hon! You sure did handle that problem like a pro!" Tina practically fangirled over Dante at that moment. "You sure you ain't one of those profession hit men or somethin'?-! What kinda guns're those?-! What were those things?-!"

"You sure got a mouth on you, huh?" Dante commented, showing his irritation rising.

"Well excuse me for askin' questions after you just blew a hole into these two guys' heads like they were bulls!" Tina expressed. "Seriously what are these things?-!"

"Now's really not the time to talk." Dante suggested as he stopped twirling his gun and looked towards the window. A dark shadow had covered the light within the room and Tina couldn't help but turn around, only to be face to window with a larger hoard of those same demonic creatures that Dante dispatched earlier, all screeching to get into the diner with blood thirsty red eyes.

"Well…I did say I wanted more excitement." Tina admitted getting into fighting stance.

Dante pointed his guns at the window, and replied with the only thing he could think of as of now.

"Wish granted."


	3. 3: Dante's flat

**Hey everyone! Alito here! I had gotten a Xbox Christmas (late news I know) and I plan to get the DMC HD collection soon. And I'm more than ready to get DmC when it comes out too! So anyway, schools gonna start soon, so I might be longer with these chapters so sorry about that. I'll try to update though.**

**Also HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL**

**Grumpy Cat: "Happy? You fool."**

**Oh shut it, you. Anyway, time to begin chapter 3**

***DISCLAIMER* I own nothing.**

**Chapter 3: Dante's flat**

* * *

_**UNKNOWN AREA**_

_**OUTTER SEA**_

_**8:50 a.m.**_

Hayate had been through troubles once before. Hell, he's fought creatures and evil that most had only heard of in books and comics, but these things were honestly a disappointment to him. They were designed very poorly. The first waves were humanoid and black furred with glowing eyes. Now, these things were only black furred gorilla-like demons with growling fangs, glowing red eyes, and claws. Either way they all fell at his katana with one swift cut after the next. He wasn't even trying that hard and simply hacked his way through them with the occasional kunai throw here and there.

Zack, on the other hand, wasn't doing so well for himself. He'd be able to take one down, but would narrowly dodge the next one that charged right at him. He was feeling way out of his element of fame and fortune, and really did feel his life was at risk this time. And that was something that Zack wasn't too hyped to take part of. His self taught Muay Thai was only getting him into more trouble and leaving him wide open after every powerful strike. When he used his elbow, his back was open. When he used a high kick, his front was open. He didn't know what to do.

"Yo, ninja brotha! What we gonna do against these ugly things?-!" Zack complained as he dodged attacks and striked hard. "I don't wanna die in this dull ass suit! I at least wanna go out with some lights or a big ass explosion that takes some of these things with me as trophies! Ah, but Niki's gonna be sad when she finds out I died and stuff…" Zack's determination grew that instant as he started to really go on the offensive and hit with his fist, feet, and knees. "No! I ain't goin' down like that! My girl's waitin' for me back home! I can't let her down! Because that girl is the one I plan to—!"

"ZACK!" Hayate yelled angrily as she shoves his katana deep through a demon's stomach, letting its blood gush out of its back. "If I have to hear one more word out of your mouth…!"

He ended the poor demon by ripping the sword from its belly, and cut it through diagonally and appeared behind it, as it fell to pieces in an instant. Hayate looked towards Zack with a look that made Zack wanna pee himself. The demons also saw this look and quickly backed away from him.

"Got it?-!" Hayate threateningly said.

"Uh…can I say one last thing though…" Zack meekly said.

"What?-!"

"Duck…"

"Duck? What do you—?"

Hayate quickly got what he meant and instinctively ducked down in order to dodge the whirling tentacle that almost took his torso clean off his body! He stood back up and looked up at the giant whip-like tentacle that came from the ledge of the ship. Suddenly the boat shook a bit as a large inhumane hand grabbed the boat's ledge forcefully and pulled its whole body up.

"W-WHAT?-! What the hell is that?-!" Zack outcryed.

"Their leader, no doubt." Hayate confirmed while looking at it rise.

The hand was as black as the minions Zack and Hayate fought before and when it finally peered its ugly head over the ship, its face was just as gruesome as the minor demons. The only difference with this larger demon was its long horns, and its spiked tail, whipping around. On its back were the same tentacles that grabbed the helicopter, and the one that almost killed Hayate just now.

It appeared before the two, its breathing faintly heard and its organic black furred chest going in and out. Its knees were bent as it used the support of its large clawed arms as a way to stand up almost like a gorilla.

"_**Pitiful mortal.**_**" **It said with a deep, watery voice that echoed throughout the ship. **"**_**You dare strike down my loyal subjects, and make a complete mockery of my conquest over this puny realm once again? Though you have survived this long, you have made a futile attempt this day. Accept your place, human, and I shall swiftly end your life."**_

Hayate didn't respond right away. Instead, he did something that Zack and even the larger demon wasn't expecting…he laughed. He laughed intimidatingly and didn't hold back. Finally, Hayate calmed down and just smirked mockingly at the large creature.

"You know, I once fought someone like you." Hayate said, "He too was an arrogant man, and turned himself into a beast in order to attain such power. Even at the cost of almost killing his own daughter in the process. However he met his end gruesomely." Hayate looked up to the demon in the eyes with a hateful glare. "Now, I wonder if history will repeat itself."

_**HELENA'S OFFICE**_

_**A FEW MINUTES EARLIER**_

Kasumi's ninja training was put to the test as she was able to handle herself against the black furred demons that evaded Helena's office. One charged straight into her with no maneuvering what so ever; just full frontal assault. Kasumi lifted her wakizashi and quickly split the demon in two, letting its blood splurge all over the hall way's walls. Kasumi then spun to the right in order to catch the other one in the neck, and lastly, spun the opposite direction to quickly cut the last one down to two.

Helena was handling her end quite well for someone who hardly done much training. She jabbed one in the face, then went for a full barrage of swift, whip-like punch combos that were bringing the demon to its knees. She ended the last one with a powerful high kick to the face and that was that. Three more appeared before Helena, much to her disappointment.

"_Am I_ _really not in my top form like I use to be?_" Helena thought. She blamed herself for getting to over confident in rising to the top of DOATEC that she forgot to bring her mastery of Pi Gua Quan for the ride. Even so, she held her own against the demons.

Kasumi narrowly escapes one of the bladed claws, and aims her wakizashi into the demon's gut, and from there, grabbed the back of its head, and savagely brought the short blade right through the dark creature, letting its blood release from its body, and making a mess all over the ground. Kasumi got the jump on it, and sent it flying with a forceful roundhouse kick. She spun around to the back of her to instantly catch the second one right in the neck, and looped its head off. A third ran to her, but Kasumi brought the small blade down the middle of it, and finished the last one off with a sideway slice.

"Helena!" Kasumi called to her blond companion. She was horrified to see that Helena was being surrounded by a group of them. Helena, herself, was panting hard and sweating profusely. Even so, she still held her ground and would not faultier to these damnations.

The crowd went in with blood-hurtling shrieks to ravage their prey limb from limb once and for all, but unfortunately something interrupted them from doing so.

Something sharp and painful lodged in their heads was the reason.

Each and every one of them fell to the ground, dead before Helena's very eyes, much to her disbelief.

"Heh. What's the matter, Ms. Princess? Can't fight your own battles anymore?"

Helena quickly recognized hat voice. That insulting, egotistical tone that she's not been fond of at all. Though she shared the same kind of tone, Helena couldn't stand having someone be more of her then she herself was.

"Well now. What a surprise." Helena said, moving her hair behind her ear, hiding her frustration towards the new alley. "It appears that we have a family reunion here."

"Yeah, heartwarming and all." Ayane snorted sarcastically. "I really am sick of having to save people from near-death situations like this, but as a master of the Haji Mon sect. I guess I can't oblige."

And oblige, she couldn't as she even represented the name by donning her specially made dark purple ninja uniform. However, she represented herself with her heliotrope purple short hair, red eyes, and signature headband. Ayane turned to Kasumi, showing the most obvious of disgust towards her as usual. "What's the matter with you, huh?" Ayane said in Japanese, "Can't seem to get it together properly?"

"Ayane..." Kasumi also said in Japanese with meek backbone, "W-What're you doing here?"

"Not happy to see me? Feeling's mutual." Ayane remarked, with her arms crossed, "To answer your pathetic question; I knew something was odd when master Hayate was called by _this_ bitch after our mission." Ayane nodded to the platinum blond French woman. Because Helena was fluient in Japanese, she got that comment loud and clear, much to her annoyance.

"Wait. Hayate's here too?" Kasumi said fearfully. The last thing she needed to get in her way was her "live by the book" brother to try and convince her that fighting ALPHA-152 wasn't very smart.

"Would you wait a damn second, and let me finish?" Ayane sassed, getting Kasumi to silence herself. "Anyway, I also knew he would tell me "_it's alright_" and to go back to the village, but I wasn't going for it in the slightest, so I stow-awayed onto the helicopter. Good thing I escaped it a few seconds after master Hayate did, otherwise he'd know I was here."

"And how tragic it would be if you died…" Helena remarked, seething sarcasm. Ayane stared daggers at the blond French woman.

"Ayane, where's Hayate now?" Kasumi asked concerned.

"Humph! Why should I tell _you_ everything?" Ayane rudely stated towards her half-sister, "Traitors should stay out of a real ninja business."

"Ayane, I mean it!" Kasumi almost ordered under her pleading voice, much to Ayane's and Helena's surprise. Kasumi walked towards her in a hurry as she said, "I don't care what you feel right now, okay?-! All I care about is finding the man called Dante, so that I can find ALPHA, and destroy her once and for all!" She stopped as she was now behind Ayane, not bothering to turn towards her, or even acknowledge Ayane at all. "Now tell me where Hayate is, so that I can know where not to go."

Ayane's fist clenched tightly into a ball, ready to smack the ever-living blood out of the copper haired ninja.

"Be careful. You're acting all high and mighty of yourself even though you're still a traitor of the Mugen Tenshin clan, and the person who Master Hayate obviously cared for the most compared to me." Ayane said bitterly, "To think how ungrateful you've become after two years of not seeing anyone only to not even want to see your own brother as soon as possible." Ayane then stayed silent waiting for Kasumi's guilt to show on her face, and Ayane to feel more victorious over her. However, Ayane was also holding in her anger tightly wrapped in the pit of her chest so much it hurt.

"Don't you mean our brother?" Kasumi said with an attitude, which took Ayane off guard. "What, is he suddenly a traitor too since you seem to like talking insults to those who—"

Ayane quickly turned around and within the room was an echoing sound of skin hitting a cheek. Helena was surprised to see that Ayane had, indeed, slapped Kasumi across the cheek with no concern for how Kasumi would take it or if she'd shed a tear or not. Ayane couldn't even look Kasumi in the eye, and stared down to the floor. However, Helena could see the faintest of trembling from the purple haired ninja.

"How dare you…?" Ayane uttered.

"W-What…?" Kasumi meekly said while rubbing her red cheek.

Ayane lashed out at Kasumi and grabbed the collar of her dress. Kasumi could see the burning jealousy and pure hatred in her sister's red eyes, along with a hint of sadness hidden deep within hatred buried away for two years.

"How dare you?-!" Ayane outraged. "You think Hayate can just pop up where ever you are when it's beneficial to _YOU_?-!" Kasumi was shocked that Ayane didn't even address Hayate as _master_, but at that moment, it seemed Ayane could care less at the moment. "You think just because you're the person he cherishes the most, that you're free to come and go?-! Hayate isn't a coat you can wear whenever you feel like it! He's worried about you, and is risking his life out there to make sure your safe! You're a disgusting bitch if you can't at least look him in the eyes before you go!"

Kasumi didn't have words to say right away. She was too disheartened by the sharp words from her sister and—as a result, could only feel emptiness inside.

"I'm sorry…" Ayane shot her eyes back at Kasumi's who had a very pensive stare baring down at her half-sister. "I had completely forgotten that even though Hayate would try to stop me for my own safety, he's still my older brother…"

What was Kasumi to do; honor family, or honor responsibility? The choice was a hard one for her to make, and the last thing Kasumi wanted was to involve family into her burden.

"But no, not again. Even though I am a traitor to the village, I won't involve my family into this issue of mine." Kasumi said confidently, "This time, I know what I have to do in order to protect those I care about from the one thing only I can defeat." She released Ayane's grip on her and stared her pensive eyes into an almost saddened Ayane's mixed with anger. "I'm sorry, Ayane, but if me trying to protect my family and everyone in the world is wrong…then I really am a disgusting bitch..."

She sweared. This was the first time Ayane and even Helena have ever heard Kasumi, the sweet young woman, swear in their lives. Ayane remembered how they once sweared when they were kids, and they'd get punished. Ayane guessed it wasn't as bad for her then it was for the purple haired konoichi. Ayane knew Kasumi swears too, but it was so rare, that she couldn't help but be surprised in her choice of words.

"Now please…tell me how to stay away from him…and let me go."

Kasumi's plead of force was the final needle that was pain enough for Ayane to contain. She breathed out heavily and said angrily, "Master Hayate is at the center right…You should go left…"

There was a silence between the two for a few seconds before Kasumi uttered dryly, "Thank you."

And with that, Kasumi disappeared in a small whirlwind of sakura petals, and was gone completely. The luxurious office was silent, besides the sounds of demons shrieking and, from what Helena could hear, Zack complaining and hoping he doesn't die. Helena's attention was brought back to the purple haired ninja, who had just punched a small hole into the door, almost knocking it off its hinges. Ayane felt…odd. She wasn't loathing of her sister like she usually is, and she obviously wasn't somber about how Kasumi talked to her. She felt a mixture put together that she thought she'd never feel for Kasumi ever in her life…She was proud of her half-sister. For standing up for once, and actually wanting to fight, and not because she didn't have a choice.

"Damn her…" Ayane muttered to herself. "…She didn't even say goodbye…"

Suddenly, the large ship rocked violently, almost making both the females fall. Helena ran to the window, and was horrified to see the sight before her. It was indeed, a larger version of the other demons they had been fighting before, but more dangerous and appeared to be talking to Hayate and Zack at the bottom of the main ship.

"_Merde!_" Helena hissed. "It is a larger variety of those damned creatures!" She told Ayane, and looked back out there. "If only that muscle head, Bayman hadn't left so quickly...!"

"Well if you're not gonna be of use, then you might as well stay here…" Ayane said to her in English. Ayane quickly ran out of the door and away from the office. Helena looked the way she went and couldn't help but feel a bit of sadness for the poor girl. This time, the traitor insulted _her _honor.

"Ayane…" Helena uttered.

_**JOHNNY's DINER**_

_**NEW YORK CITY**_

_**8:56 a.m.**_

The once proud diner of Johnny's was now a demon battle field paved with blood and carnage. However the blood was in fact one of their own and the carnage was raved from the black haired demon killer, known as Dante, along with the blond beauty known as Tina Armstrong. The demons thought Dante would be easy kill, but they were sadly mistaken this day. One of the demons was finally knocked out of the window and gave Dante and Tina the chance to get out on to the streets.

"Nasty lil things!" Tina complained while cracking her fist, "They're totally messin' with my vacation time!"

"Quite your bitchin', blondy. At least these aren't the super-size variety." Dante said while spinning his guns in his hand.

"Who says I'm bitchin', hon. I ain't never felt this alive in a long while!" Tina grinned with her dukes up.

Dante couldn't help but smirk at Tina. She really thought these were the only kind of demons in the world, and that she could handle this with no problem. "Heh, rookie." Dante snorted.

Tina charged in first, just as one of them was about to raise its clawed arm, but Tina got her first jab into its gut and from there continued to press on with a barrage of jabs to the body of the beast It was actually working and Tina was holding her own against this new threat. . "You ain't worth my patience, ya lil shit! So I'll end this!"

She quickly moved to her family-trained grapple moves as she grabbed its arm and spun under it to be behind the black devil. Then she reached over its head and grabbed its neck with her forearm. And finally, she kicked the back of its leg to trip it and end it with a slam to a slam in the back with her knee. The demon screamed out in pain and quickly died with blood spewing out of its belly from the hard impact of Tina's knee.

"This will definitely be one for the magazines!" Tina smiled confidently, while standing over her victim. "_Tina Armstrong VS. Ugly Demons!" _ Instant seller!"

Dante was also handling his end better then Tina in fact. Mostly due to experience. He was surrounded by the lot of them and had the most around him as well.

"Ebony, Ivory, cover your ears, girls!" Dante grinned while talking to his guns, "It's about to get rated-R in this bitch!"

Dante used his handguns and was shooting off rounds in every direction at the dreaded spawns. Each was riddled with continuous bullet holes and their blood practically painting the ground around them. His final shots where left to hit the last two in front of him right between the eyes. One was close to hitting him, while another was coming at him from the side. Both bared their claws down and thought they had made contact with the gun-toting male. They were so wrong. "I'm up here, you horses' asses!" They looked up, only to be pelted with hard bullets in a vortex like motion. Dante was in the air spinning upside down while shooting at the demons, also known as _Rainstorm_. The two demons fell in a bloody fashion and not one survived the bullet onslaught, as Dante landed. "Too easy."

The two fighters regrouped back to back, being circled around the onslaught of demons all around them, waiting for one of them to get distracted so that the pounce and kill would go smoother.

"How ya holdin' up there?" Dante asked as he could hear the faint panting coming from her.

"Please! This ain't nothin'!" Tina smirked, "In fact, this'll be one hell of a battle that the "superstar of a thousand dreams" Tina Armstrong will be goin' down in the worl' record books for!"

"We'll see then Tina…Arm…strong?-!" Dante almost dropped his guns but was able to hold them again, just as a demon was about to bare its claws at him. Dante was able to block it with his left gun, ebony and shot it dead in the face with his right gun, Ivory. He eyed to the side at Tina, who was busy giving one demon a taste of her traditional Armstrong Family grapples, while Dante was shooting up other demons. "Wait! You're _THE _Tina Armstrong?-!" Dante exclaimed in absolute astonishment, "As in daughter of the King of the Ring; Mr. Strong?-!"

Tina groaned with heavy aggravation as she dropped a demon on its head by holding it up on her shoulders and falling with it. If there's one thing she hated more than anything, it's standing in the shadow of her own father. It was like no one knew who she was unless she said her full name. She got back up and gave a solid right hook at another demon. "Yep! That's me! Daughter of the legendary Bass Armstrong!"

"Why didn't you just say so?-!" Dante said while planting his foot on a demon and shooting away at it. "Bass Armstrong's a freakin' legend in the ring! Since you're his daughter, you may not be as much of a noob at this as you're lettin' on!"

"Guess ya shouldn' judge a book by its cover!" Tina stated confidently.

Suddenly more demons appeared on the fray of their little conversation, almost too much for them to take on their own. "Shit!" Dante hissed. He knew he could solo these insignificant beings with no problem at all, but having an obvious mortal with him was too much babysitting work to him. One thing was for sure though; he couldn't afford to let her die here for two reasons; Morals, and her "_King of the Ring_" father coming after him.

"Tina! Let's bail! Now!" Dante ordered, while putting Ebony and Ivory away.

"What?-! I can take 'em!" Tina objected.

"Bullshit! Now come on!" Dante exclaimed as he didn't hesitate in grabbing Tina's wrist and dragging her along with him back into Johnny's Diner.

"Wait! Why're we goin' _back_ into the rodeo?-!" Tina said with confusion.

"There's a little red we gotta get first!" Dante stated with a smirk. "She owes me lunch!"

...

Mila was confused completely. She had no idea why her boss suddenly attacked her and tied her up the way he did. Not only that, but why did he use these strange handcuffs that looked like black spiky metal prop cuffs to keep her contained. She couldn't figure it out, and was left to sit there, in the freezer, shivering to death with no warmth in sight. Her whole body was chilled to the bone, and her skin was becoming a sickly pale color. Her hands throbbing with numbness her teeth rattling relentlessly.

"G-G-Gotta…get…o-o-out" Mila chattered. She tried to stand back up, even though she was trembling violently, and walked to the door. Her very breath fogged the door's window, but on the other side was no one at all. Just her, alone in that damned freezing hell.

"P-Please…someone…h-h-help…me…" Mila eyes were getting drowsy as she was starting to lose consciousness, but before she did, she made one last attempt to get attention. She backed up a bit, still a bit wobbly from her consciousness giving out, and in a last ditch effort at attention to be freed, she ran right at the door, and banged it with her shoulder, leaving a nasty bruise on it in the process. Finally she couldn't take it anymore. She slowly dropped to the ground and laid on the cold surface. Her breathing being harder and harder to continue until she finally couldn't continue to fight it any longer…her body was still…she had lost this fight…

"It's over…I can't…go…on…"

…

…

…la…

…ila…!

…Mila…!

"MILA!-!"

Suddenly Mila's eyes shot right open to the calling of her own name. Upon opening them, she noticed three things that were different—one; she was now warm and under covers on a couch, two; she was staring up at a fan, and three; the smell of cigarettes, and pizza filled her nostrils. She slowly sat up on the couch and found herself within a small room that had a flat screen TV behind her side of a wall, a small table in front of the couch with stuff from magazines to empty beer cans, and a large window on the other side of the couch that had a great view of New York city. The kitchen was in front of her with a young black haired male standing there, apparently getting drinks from the fridge.

"Oh good! Yer' up again."

Mila turned her attention to a blond haired woman who sat in an arm chair next to the couch. It was a long blond haired southern woman wearing a cowboy hat, and was as beautiful as she was loud. Mila looked around the room, wondering where exactly she was. "Um…Where am I?"

"We're in Dante, here's flat." Tina confirmed to Mila.

"Dante's flat?" Mila repeated, looking around, and then to Dante. She noticed Dante was wearing different clothes from before; he now wore a black tank top, and old dark grey jeans. "This is your place?"

"Bingo." Dante complied, as he walked over to the two, holding cans of soda for each one of them. Tina took the root beer, while Mila simply took the sprite, though she wasn't really in the mood to drink something cold, but she didn't want to seem rude. So she simply thanked him and took it anyway.

"How did I get here though?" Mila asked. "From what I can remember…"

Mila suddenly had a grave look on her face. She timidly grasped the can in her hand, being reminded of that cold and deathly freezer she was forced into by her boss, whom she had been friends with and loved like a brother for months. What would provoke him to do something like that all of a sudden was a mystery to her.

"M-My boss…He pushed me into the freezer, and that was that…But why though?" Mila said quivering. Obviously from shock, and the result of temperature change. "Why would he do something like that all of a sudden?"

"Cause that wasn't your boss."

Both girls turned to Dante who was staring out the window while leaning on the wall.

"What you saw wasn't even human anyway, so don't feel too bad that his brains are scattered across the counter in that diner." Dante smirked while opening his soda, "Guess that whole "_carrying a human sized garbage bag_" crack wasn't too far from the real deal."

"That was still my boss, ya know. At least show _SOME_ respect." Mila said with an attitude seething from her voice. Dante may have been snickering to himself, but Mila could only look solemnly at the covers spread on her crossed legs. "I-I just can't believe my own boss is dead, gone from the world, never to be seen again…" It was a depressing thought in Mila's inner thoughts and she felt if these forethoughts continued to elaborate within her subconscious, it could spell disaster for her and others. She tried to not let it get to her, and continued to press on with questions; "A-Anyway…I have one question though."

Dante nodded in confirmation of her question.

"Well…When my boss tied me up, I could see something…evil in his eyes." Mila remembered gravely once more. "His eyes were bleeding a red hue and his arms were getting blacker and black with each passing second. I was really scared that he would become some evil creature…or I was just imagining it all….I don't know."

"Naw, naw, I saw em' like that too." Tina commented, "Them things 'ere gettin' on my last nerve. What the hell is them things anyway?-!"

"I just call 'em _The Big Gorilla Wolf Motherfuckers._" Like that one movie." Dante shrugged, and planted a seat into the comfy chair by the feet of the couch Mila was on. "But if you wanna get all technical with 'em, there's a better name for those fuckers; "

Dante sipped his soda, and exhaled hard. He looked back up to them and said it with an almost dark sardonic scowl as his expression. "Demons."

Both Tina and Mila looked at Dante with widened eyes. "Demons?" Tina repeated, unsure of she heard right, "We're fightin' demons?-!"

"No shit." Dante sighed, "What do you think those things where? guys in Costumes? Naw, costumes don't go rippin' flesh off of human bodies and massacre everyone in sight."

"Whatcha talkin' 'bout? They wer' only after us." Tina reminded him, opening her soda and taking a sip of it.

"Obviously. I was makin' an example." Dante sassed, irritating Tina a bit. "Y' know, I'm kinda curious about why no other humans could see these demons at all." Dante placed his fingers on his chin in deep thought. "They usually just walk right by without a care in the world. " Dante then remembered how they looked while he fought demons, "But the people that did walk by looked all blackish and ghostly for some messed up reason."

"Yeah, I noticed that too, But I could see ya jus' fine when I was handlin' those demons." Tina noted.

"That's cause we were both in that demonvile." Dante corrected. "Hey, Mila was it? How did everyone else in the back, besides your boss, look when you saw them?"

"I saw my boss just fine when he got all red eyed on me. But everyone else…they were black and ghost like for me too." Mila answered.

All this was news to Dante and was very vital to what could be going on with these humans. Why couldn't the three of them see the humans too well? Dante always assumed it was just him. Could these two girls not be human either or are they a special type of humans that can connect with the demon realm? It wasn't the first time he'd seen people like that though.

"Maybe that's how it is for everyone who's sent into the demon reality." Dante guessed, as he sat back and put his feet on the small table in front of him. "Hell, how should I know this shit? I just fight them and try to get them out of my life."

"Yea', I been meanin' to ask that." Tina remembered with accusation, "Them demons showed up when you were there. Mind tellin us why that is?"

"Oh gee, I'd love to, if I knew why the hell that is." Dante remarked, "I can't help I'm a demon magnet. That's how it's always been."

"For how long?" Mila asked, finally opening her soda, "Like, at what age did you start having demon vision?"

"Good question. No. Fuckin'. Clue." Dante shrugged, drinking more of his soda, "It all just happened like that. I can't really remember why, or even when."

"What, ya got some kinda amnesi…amiesi…?"

"Amnesia." Mila corrected, looking back at Tina, who was annoyed that she was made out like an illiterate.

"Well thanks for makin' me look dumb." Tina said harshly.

"O-Oh no, I didn't mean…to…Wait a second." Mila's expression turned into skepticism as she got closer to Tina's confused face. Mila stared deep at her, making Tina, herself, feel uncomfortable in the process.

"Hey there! I don' swing that way, missy!" Tina quickly said.

"Whoa. If you girls 're gonna make out, let me get some coins to throw." Dante smirked.

"Coins? Why coins?-!" Tina questioned.

"I'm a balla on a budget here." Dante opened his arms. "I'll make it hail."

"OH MY GOD!-!" Mila suddenly exclaimed so close to Tina that she had to itch her ears at Mila's outcry. "Y-Y-Y-You're…! You're Tina Armstrong?-!-! The daughter of Bass Armstrong!-! And a contestant in the DOA tournament!-!" Mila was smiling excitedly while appearing flustered and fanning herself in a giddy fashion.

"DOA? The hell's that?" Dante questioned.

"You don't know?-!" Mila said in astonishment. "The DOA tournament is the annual international world martial arts tournament where people from around the world battle it out for the championship prize!"

"Really now?" Dante said. He was officially curious. He couldn't help it though. When the words "tournament" and "prize" are mixed in, Dante was already about to sign in if he had the note pad in his possession. "Sounds interesting. Might give it a go."

"Hold ya horses there, tough guy." Tina stopped Dante's thoughts, "Them boys at DOATEC haven't said anythin' about a tournament any time soon, so I doubt there'd be one of 'em now. Sorry, guy."

"Well that bites the bullet…" Dante snorted.

"B-But still, I-I can't believe it! OhmyGod,ohmyGod,ohmyGod!-!-! I'm actually in the same room as Tina Armstrong!-!" Mila exclaimed quickly, and tightly hugged Tina like any stereotypical fan girl would. "I can't believe I actually get to meet you!-! I have so many questions to ask right now!"

"Gah! Dante a lil help here?" Tina almost begged.

"So you know that La Mariposa chick real good, right?" Dante smirked, "Mind settin' me up with her?"

"Will you two igits back off?-!" Tina yelled, pushing Mila off of her. "If I wanted to get harassed by fans, I'd—!" Before Tina could finish that complaint, Dante brought a halting hand up, and looked ominously out the sun-filled window. He was very silent and so was the room besides the stomping of the neighbors above them and the car horns blowing in the distance. "It's here." Dante grinned almost maliciously.

"What is? More o' them critters?" Tina asked, getting up from the couch along with Mila.

"Naw. Their boss."

Dante dropped his soda and quickly got up. He went straight for his hooded coat to put it on, and his boots, along with his gloves. "We gotta go." Dante said as he put on his red amulet.

"Now?" Mila blurted out, putting her soda down.

"Seriously?" Tina said, "Why do we gotta go now?"

As if the timing was just right, a long blade came shooting down from the roof, right in front of Tina! She stood absolutely still with horror filling her face as dropped her soda, and slowly looked up to find more of those red glowing eyes and inhumane growls.

"That's why!" Dante answered. He grabbed Tina's arm and pulled her away from the second shooting blade from the roof that would have split her in two. He then stood under the hoard of red eyes and grabbed Ebony and Ivory to let off shots, and hearing the screeching of the monsters.

"Get outta here! " Dante yelled. Mila and Tina complied as they ran out the door and down the dim hallway. They didn't want to use the elevator, so they decided to use the stair case instead. As they opened the door, one of the demons popped out of it! Mila and Tina backed away a bit from the snarling creature.

"Red, get outta here." Tina suggested, "You jus' might get hur—?"

Tina's words fell on deaf ears as Mila ran right at the black furred monster while slipping on, what looked like, red UFC gloves. She stood before the demon and bounced on the palms of her shoes with her fist up. "Come on, you bastard!" Mila growled with a stern expression. "You'll regret killing my boss like that!"

The demon hurled itself at Mila, but Mila quickly side stepped out of its path and it ran head first into a door, leaving a nasty crater in it. The demon regained its footing and faced the red head once more, but sadly, it was only forced to face a terrible knee to the face, and its back slamming into the wall. Mila charged in and gave it a good uppercut, and from there, went all in as she relentlessly punched the demon into the wall.

"This is for my boss! This is for ruining my store! And this…!" She cocked her right fist back and was shooting it in for the kill. "…IS FOR COSTING ME MY PAY CHECK!-!-!"

Her fist made contact with the creature's face, making it splatter all over the wall and even on her new gloves as well. After she was done, Mila panted harshly, letting all the anger and fear in her simmer down before she goes off the deep end. Tina was amazed at how angry the girl could seriously get. She'd hate see what would happen if Mila's boyfriend cheated on her. Assuming she has a boy friend that is.

Finally Mila breathed out the last of her anger, and turned to Tina, not with a devilishly stern scowl, but a radiant kind smile that could melt the hatred off of any scrooge. "Okay then. I'm ready to go."

"Uh…sure?" Tina questioned. The two ran for the door to the stair case once more, and ran down it with their footsteps echoing in the narrow dimly-lit stairway.

"Wait! We can't just leave him in there by himself!" Mila reminded Tina.

"Don' worry! I've seen the boy fight! He ain't got nothin' to worry 'bout!" Tina assured her.

"But still…" Mila looked back up at the fifth floor but looked away to continuing to follow Tina down the stairs. They had reached the door to the lobby and exited right out the door with no time to lose. Both stood there, panting and looking back up at the fifth floor windows for anything out of place.

"Ya see 'em?" Tina asked Mila.

"No! I told you we shouldn't have left him!" Mila exclaimed with great worry. "What if they kill him?-!"

"Oh com' on now. He ain't gonna—"

Tina's words were suddenly halted, as the two's hearing was reduced by a highly powerful explosion that had erupted from one of the windows of the fifth floor. The glass and debris fell to the ground, crashing into pieces or just being incinerated completely.

"…die?" Tina finished gravely.

"My God…" Mila uttered painfully. "No…no…!"

"Damn. And her' I thought he'd be the perfect fighter, an' all. Guess he's shot his last shot." Tina mourned.

"Dante…" Mila could almost break into tears at such a loss. First her lovable boss, now Dante too. She was losing too many people all in one day. She felt her chest ache and her emotions on sadness. "What do we do now?-! With him gone, I don't know how we'll be able to—!"

Suddenly their attention was pulled back to that same fiery window and another blast shot from the inside of it, only this time something shot out of it and landed right behind the two girls. Both turned to find a black hooded coat and a black haired male wearing that coat. He stood up, placing his handguns back on his waist and turned to his burning room to say with his cocky smile, "Well…shit. I'm gonna need a new place."

"D-Dante!-!" exclaimed happily. She ran to him and embraced him tightly, even though he smelled like smoke. "We thought you were dead!"

"Obviously not." Dante remarked.

Mila was so relieved that Dante was able to survive such a blast, and wanted nothing more but to make sure he didn't end up dying again. She then realized that she's been holding Dante for a while now, and quickly got off of him, turning her head while blushing. "W-Well it's good to see you're not dead and all…"

"Guess you ain't as reckless as I thought you were." Tina grinned, patting Dante on the back. "If we was in DOA, I'd be watchin' out for ya…as a runner-up."

"That a challenge I'm hearin' or are you admitting your title to me?" Dante smirked arrogantly.

"I don' know. We'll jus' havta see in DOA if it comes." Tina stated coyly.

"Guess so." Dante said back.

"Uh guys…I like that we're all talking about the tournament coming up and all, but…what is that?" Mila pointed all the way in the horizon of a large ship that was coming into the docks from where they stood. Surprising to Mila, she could see the diner from the uphill street she was on. But that was tossed out of her mind at the sight of a strange creature on the top of the large ship with long black tentacles petruding from its back and sharp claws as well. Its loud roar could be heard from where they currently were.

"I-Is that the boss?" Tina guessed.

"Wow. Tentacles? Didn't know demons were into that kind of stuff." Dante mocked, "Guess that one's from Japan. So I should slay it like it's from Japan." Suddenly something appeared on Dante's back. It was a glowing hologram of a circle with a long sword going through it and angel wings spreading out on each side of the circle. It quickly vanished and something took its place; first came a grey handle, then its black pommel, a sharp forward edge, and finally the long, double edged blade popped out. A long claymore sword appeared on his back.

"W-Whoa! Now where'd that thang come from?-!" Tina said in astonishment.

"This ol' thing? " Dante smirked, "Was born with Rebellion here."

"Born with it?-!" Mila repeated with disbelief.

"Yeah." Dante shrugged, "Some people are born with tails, others with different color eyes. I was born with a sword in me. Meh, that's life." Dante turned back to the tentacled demon in the distance. "You two should get goin'. I got this."

"What?-! That's it?-! Your' jus' gonna go an' kill that thang then leave?-! Hon, that's call eatin' an' runnin'." Tina huffed as she placed her hands on her hips. "You ain't gon' get many girls that way."

"I don't know 'bout that." Dante smirked, "I got a hot blond, and a hot red head, so I'd say I'm doin' good."

Mila turned a bit of red at that, while Tina coyly smiled. He really was somethin' else. Flirts, shoots demons, jumps out of explosions with no problems, and leaves.

"Oh yeah, that's right." Dante remembered as he crouched down and took a running position. "Mila." Mila looked at Dante, "You still owe me lunch, got it? When we see each other again, you're treatin' me, got it?"

Mila didn't respond right away. To think he'd still remember that even though he shot up those demons and ruined his food with their blood. She wondered if they'll even see each other again at some point anyway. She doubted it, but just decided that maybe they will. The world may seem big, but that didn't mean people were untraceable.

"Okay." Mila nodded with a smile, "I'll treat you to that pizza you wanted."

"Allow it." Dante grinned, and with that, he charged down the uphill through the city and went with great speed beyond that of a normal human being. Within seconds, he was gone from their sight. Suddenly, the people that had vanished and were ghostly were back to being solid once more, and firefighter cars were parked behind them to take out the fire in the flat.

"That's on' crazy ass dude." Tina giggled, while taking her hat off to feel the wind flowing through their hair.

"Yeah…huh?" Mila looked up in the air with Tina following her gaze to see something slowly floating to the two. Tina quickly grabbed it and found it to be a small paper with writing on it. After reading it, both could only stand there and smile. Tina laughed out loud at the message.

"Haha! Guess we'll be meetin' real soon." Tina said as she put her cowboy hat back on to tip it to the note.

"Yep." Mila looked off to the sun shining at their location. She took another look at the note;

_**"See ya at DOA!**_

_**-Dante"**_

"Yeah…See ya at DOA." Mila smiled to herself.

_**JOHNNY's DINER**_

_**9:05 a.m.**_

"WHOA!"

The white haired male in the white get up and alcohol bottle in his hand shot right up from his drunken sleep with a massive hangover and his tongue tasting vomit erupting.

"Oh man…I don't feel so good…" Brad Wong slurred. As he was about to take a sip from his personal supply of sake, he noticed three things that were out of place in his dazed eyes; one, the diner was a total wreck. Two, blood was everywhere in the very dinner. And three; black furred bodies were all over the place for some reason.

"Oh great…" Brad sighed, "Drank myself back to _this _realm again…I gotta stop drinkin'…After this last one…"


	4. 4: Danger Zone

**Hey everyone! Alito here! So good to be here, but I probably won't be here that much. Finals are coming up, and I promised myself I'd study this time. Also SAT is coming up too so I gotta get ready for that. But anyway, I got this chapter up so at least I can keep you company with this until all this work is done.**

***DISCLAIMER* I own nothing.**

**Chapter 4: Danger Zone**

* * *

_**NEAR JOHNNY'S DINER**_

_**NEW YORK CITY**_

_**9:07 a.m.**_

The city was starting to notice some kind of odd sensation going around. News and media were eating this up and spitting it out all over the news. "_A strange dark presence that no one knows as to why._" Some believe it was from some new bio experiment by the government scientist. Others took the conspiracy road believing it was aliens.

But Kasumi knew better than that.

She appeared before a construction site where a building was yet to be even covered. She stood within the shadows of the abandoned site in order to see the last place she felt the son of Sparda was; Johnny's Diner. However it appeared she was too late as the windows were already shattered, with the police inside investigating anything out of the ordinary. There was a crowd gathered to see what had happened but didn't get far with the yellow tape stopping them. Some men from the hospital took away two bodies that were covered by a blanket that was a bit bloody from the inside.

"He's been here." Kasumi uttered. "So where is he now?"

"Kasumi?"

Kasumi quickly turned around, ready to fight but quickly lowered her guard at the sight of tanned skin and hazel hair, accompanied with a white expensive coat and shades.

"Oh. It's you, Lisa." Kasumi sighed of relief.

"Who did you think I was?" Lisa asked in Japanese with a hand on her hip, "Your brother perhaps? If I recall, I believe he's back at that ship, dealing with a larger than life demon right about now."

Kasumi's attention was quickly brought to Lisa upon hearing her mention demons. "W-Wait! You see them too?" Kasumi expressed in her native tongue, "You're putting yourself at great risk, you know."

"But of course." Lisa nodded, "That _is _the plan, right? For all contestants of the last DOA tournament including you ninja. I'm so sorry you were involved in this plan of Donavan's as well."

"I don't care about the other contestants at the moment." Kasumi made clear, "All I care about is protecting my family and those I care about by finding the Son of Sparda so that I can find Alpha-152. And don't lie to me. I know you have Alpha's location but you're keeping it a secret from me! And you specifically told me that Dante's blood was the key to opening the chamber Alpha resided in! Yet you won't tell me why...Well it doesn't matter to me anymore. Now…where is he?"

Lisa could only sigh. She felt that Kasumi was going about this all wrong and was putting others to the side in order to attain her responsibilities. She really has changed in Lisa's eyes.

"Kasumi, listen to me." Lisa said sternly as she placed a hand on Kasumi's shoulder, "What you're getting yourself into is nothing short of a gambit. Even if you do find Dante, it doesn't mean he'll join you so easily. I've looked up his files and checked his background info, but found nothing on him, except where he lives and security footages."

Kasumi didn't want to hear all this, not when she was so close to getting to Alpha. She didn't want anything to stop her from reaching Alpha at any cost. Not even Dante's attitude or possible trust issues.

"Other than that, he doesn't stay in one place for a long time." Lisa finished.

"Then I'll track him down." Kasumi brung up pushing Lisa's hand off her shoulder. "I'll use some tracker to follow him and keep heavy surveillance on him from the shadows."

"Really?" Lisa challenged, "And what if he goes out of your sight or discovers you? What then?"

"Then…" Kasumi really hadn't thought about that. She didn't want to waste any time in fighting him, nor did she want him to leave. She wondered what she was to do if things go sour; "…I'll persuade him to join me."

"With what? Money? Fame? …Your body?"

Kasumi looked away with a hint of red on her face. Lisa couldn't help but smile a little. On the inside, she was still the same kind-hearted Kasumi that Lisa knew.

"I-I don't think I'd go _that _far…" Kasumi meekly said.

"Obviously." Lisa nodded. "But honestly, the guy could be anywhere by now. Who knows, maybe he left town alrea—"

"It's him! It's the terrorist! Dante!-!"

The English outcry of a male caught both of their attention, causing them to run to the scene of the streets where a bunch of people that were by the diner all looked to the rooftops. Lisa followed their gaze only to in fact see a young man with black short hair, a black hooded coat, and—what appeared to be, a sword on his back. He was running on the rooftops and just jumped on to another one, heading for the docks. Most likely to handle the large demon problem there.

"It's him." Lisa confirmed as she pushed her glasses down so that her brown eyes could see better, "It's Dante. Looks like he really was still…"

Lisa looked behind her for Kasumi, but she was nowhere to be seen at all. All that was left in the place she was standing were small sakura petals slowly flowing to the ground.

Lisa sighed while grasping her forehead. "Kasumi…" Lisa muttered in English under her breath, "Please be careful…Your body can only handle so much…"

…

Kasumi's heart raced as she tried to catch up with the one called Dante. After being ever so patient for so long, she has finally got to the first half of her goal in defeating Alpha-152. All she needed to do was catch Dante and ask him to join her. But then, that ever looming thought—courtesy of Lisa, formed into her head. What if he says no? What would she do then? She knew full well that using her body was out of the question, but fighting him was something she didn't have the time to do.

Kasumi paid attention once more to find that Dante had turned into the side of a building that was being constructed at the moment and Kasumi quickly followed.

However, Kasumi stopped dead in her tracks as she was now face to face with the barrel of a light grey handgun pointed right at her forehead.

"W-Wait, wait wait! Don't shoot!" Kasumi pleaded in English but with a hint of a Japanese accent. She had her hands up to not go for any weapons on her.

"Sorry. My finger tends to slip when someone starts followin' me." Dante stated. He began to eye Kasumi up and down and—being the guy he was, wolf whistled to the woman. "Nice legs ya got there. Plan on usin' them on me?"

Kasumi instantly blushed like a high school girl, which made Dante chuckle a bit.

"Heh, calm down there, hot legs. I'm not gonna do anything." Dante smirked, "Unless you give me a reason, that is, and let me tell you, I'm about to have one, the more stand around lookin' sexy like that."

Kasumi ignored his advances and focused solely on the main task at hand. She cleared her throat and stated with full confidence. "T-Tell me. Are you the one known as Dante?"

Dante's smile dropped at the mention of his name. Most times, people knew him as a terrorist, so he was cautious. "That'd be me. Who's askin'?"

Kasumi bowed to Dante and said, "My name is Kasumi… Dante, I must ask you to come with me."

Dante quickly debunked this as some sort of suspicious offer from this beautiful ninja. What could be the terms with following this red head to wherever she wants to go? He couldn't help but be skeptical of what to do.

"You want me to come with you?" Dante repeated.

"Yes. it's very important that you do. I'll explain the details later." She was speaking rather quickly to Dante, which only raised more skepticism, "There isn't much time. We must go now, before—"

Kasumi suddenly stopped her words as she looked up in worry. Dante cocked an eye brow in confusion and looked up as well, only to see a single black feather flow slowly down in front of both of them. Dante was wondering why she looked so worried at the sight of it even to the point of staring at it as it hit the ground.

"Kasumi."

A male voice spoke to them and without warning, a black whirlwind of feathers appeared behind Kasumi, making Dante aim right for it out of instinct. He looked back at Kasumi, who seemed to have an expression of shame on her face, while looking down.

The whirlwind had dissipated and in its wake left a man that was dressed in an all black, sleeveless, sleek ninja uniform with a ninja head piece, a mask over his mouth and head, a black scarf, and a red handled katana on his back. He stood there, arms crossed, and from the look of his eyes, was quite upset.

"Who the hell're you now?" Dante said. "Now I gotta deal with ninjas?"

The silent ninja ignored Dante, and stared straight at Kasumi with that same upset look in his eyes.

"Kasumi. What do you think you're doing?" The black suited ninja said sternly in Japanese.

Kasumi didn't turn around. She could only feel more shame if she did for herself and her honor. "Ryu…"

"Look at me when I'm talking to you, Kasumi." Ryu ordered.

Kasumi winced at the sound of Ryu's anger in his voice that she quickly turned to him, but still held her head down in shame. Getting away from her brother was one thing, but getting away from Ryu…almost impossible.

"I've heard all about what you plan to do from your conversation with Lisa." Ryu announced, "Do you realize how reckless you are being? Do you honestly believe that you can be able to defeat Alpha-152 on your own?"

"W-Well I…I just—"

"Hey. Yeah, hope you don't mind me barggin' in on your little, discussion here, but uh, I got a demon to kill sooo if you both don't mind…yeah." Dante intervened. He was already confused as to what this konoichi wanted with him, but he'd be damned if he was gonna stand there, being even more lost with what was transpiring before him since he couldn't speak a wink of Japanese.

Ryu looked towards the black haired male with the gun pointed at him and waved a submissive hand. "Lower your gun. We are not your enemies." Ryu said in flawless English. "I'm here to—"

Ryu was interrupted by the sudden burst of smoke that formed where Dante was standing. Dante closed his eyes and so did Ryu as it seemed that the smoke was a diversion for Kasumi to escape in her sakura peteled disappearance. That guess was announced corrected as the smoke finally cleared, and Kasumi was nowhere to be seen.

"Damnit!' Ryu muttered in Japanese. "I lost her…"

"Shit. Looks like she's gone." Dante commented in amazement, "I gotta get me one of those smoke bombs though." He turned back to the super ninja, leaning ivory on his shoulder. "So what now, huh? Gonna go back to the sewers and have a pizza with your master who's a rat?"

Ryu turned to the black haired gun totter and couldn't help but feel the most irritated expression just by seeing his very face. Ryu honestly couldn't stand people who talked too much or used guns. He considered it dishonorable for warriors to even touch guns, and he could feel that this young man's honor was lost ages ago.

"You must be Dante, correct?" Ryu asked.

"Yeah?"

"Considering I came here of my own free will in order to stop Kasumi, I might as well help you with the demon problem you mentioned earlier." Ryu figured.

"Handle? With me? Oh, no. This is my kill. I don't like when I gotta work together with people, so no." Dante then thought of a better alternative then receiving unneeded help. "But instead, how about we have a deal?"

Ryu wasn't to up for a deal. Especially with such a shady individual such as the coated man before him. But he knew that he had to uphold the duties of a ninja to always rid the world of evil. Such as his past endeavors have insured this.

"What kind of deal?"

_**DOCKS**_

_**NEW YORK CITY**_

_**9:10 a.m.**_

Hayate was becoming exhausted. He had fought with the best of his ability but even that wasn't enough to stop this massive beast. Ayane stood her ground with her older brother, but Hayate could see the fatigue and wounds taking their toll on the poor konoichi. Hayate was surprised that Ayane would disobey his orders to go back to the village, but at the same time, felt that he could at least use a little bit of help. Zack had been knocked out cold the second the battle began and thus, reduced their chances of victory. Meanwhile, besides a few cuts and a kunai or two lodged in its body, the giant gorilla-like demon didn't show signs of defeat at all. It still stood strong and did not falter to the likes of the human ninja at all.

"_**How pathetic.**_**"** Said the gorilla-like demon giant, **"**_**I expected a much more suitable challenge then what is presented unto me. Though it appears I've been let down. How disappointing for you so called "ninja honor."**_

Hayate's anger rose at that comment that he clutched his katana in his hand so tight that his hand started to turn red through his glove. To have someone insult the name of the Mugen Tenshin clan and not be able to punish them for it was a great vein popping anger for Hayate to take. Ayane shared her anger with the same results as Hayate. But that didn't stop her from making it known.

"Shut up, you fuckin' ape!-!" Ayane yelled. "Don't you dare insult our honor!-! If you speak one more word against it, I'll rip your—!"

Ayane was suddenly interrupted by the sudden feeling of something wrapping around her waist. She quickly grabbed her kunai and stabbed it relentlessly to get it to let go, but every stab she did, healed the second she took the blade out. She was then lifted up into the air, struggling to break free while still cutting the tentacle.

"Damnit!" Ayane yelled, "Let me go!-!"

"Ayane!-!" Hayate called. He turned to the gorilla demon and ordered, "Damn you! Release her! This is a battle between you and me!"

"_**Agreed. And I prefer not to have any interruptions. So I'm simply "reducing" the numbers."**_ The horrid demon grinned. He slowly intensified the binding around Ayane, and crushing her ribs in. Ayane grunted loudly, trying to hold in her blood-curdling scream from the pain she was feeling, not wanting to give the demon the satisfaction of hearing her weakness.

"No!-!" Hayate yelled. He charged into the demon with no literal planning or tactfulness as opposed to the beginning of the battle, but just pure emotions of not losing his sister to a terrifying creature like the one before him. He couldn't afford to lose another sister. Not again…

As he desperately tried to get to the tentacle he needed to cut in order to free Ayane, another tentacle came soaring right to Hayate the instant he jumped. Hayate dodged it but was faced with a large palm slamming down at him. Hayate did not dodge, but instead, took the giant demon's hand head on by getting into a struggle with his katana to push it away. This was a difficult action for Hayate as he was still severely injured and much of his spiritual energy was wasted enough already for him to be unable to do as much damage as he wanted to.

Finally the hand proved the victor as Hayate was slammed right back into the ground, creating a crater in his wake. He felt as though his bones were broken and his body unable to follow his orders in getting up anymore. He was spitting out his own blood harshly and could no longer fight back. His katana too far for him to grab it, and all his shuriken used up against that beast.

"Hayate!" Ayane shrieked in horror. She struggled harder and harder to break free of the tentacle's grasp. "No!-! Let me go, damnit!-!"

"_**How modifying. It appears your ninja way has been tarnished once and for all. Nothing more but an empty threat to us dem—**_**"**

The demon stopped his rant as he felt the sharpest of sensations shoot at his forehead. It seemed that he had been cut quite deeply and could feel it burning within his skull. Though it didn't bother him all that much, it still proved to be very agonizing.

He looked to the purple haired konoichi to find that the weapon she had used to give him the nasty bruise was a long double bladed weapon that glowed brightly in her hands; The Tokkosho.

"H-How's that, you ugly mother—!"

Ayane's words were squeezed shut as the pressure was added tenfold to Ayane's stomach, finally making her shriek in anguish and carnage and drop the Tokkosho.

"**It**_** seems you humans have forgotten where your place is.**_**"** The demon grinned dastardly, **"**_**Allow me to remind you.**_**"**

Ayane spewed her own blood from her gut and was feeling every bone in her torso snap piece by piece. She gasped for air that was slowly leaving her broken lungs and could no longer feel her arms and legs. Ayane's eyes were slowly rolling to the back of her head and her skin turning a very pale color.

"AYANE!-!" Hayate yelled. Struggling to stand but obviously failing in doing so.

"_**Do not fret, mortal. You have indeed fought well to last this long in this dog eat dog world, but it is time to except it. This world is bigger then you thought possible. You think I am the worst? You are mistaken. There are more of us out there; thousands. And we all will take this world back to its proper place; beneath us.**_**"**

The demon lifted his giant fist and brought it over the ninja's helpless body as it casted a shadow around him. Hayate had truly never felt so helpless before in his life. There were instances where he would believe he truly was at risk of dying and didn't know what to do, but this was the epitome of those moments for him. He couldn't do anything to defend himself…he prepared for the worst…

He shut his eyes, waiting for the death to take him away…

However death didn't come at all as he suddenly, felt his body be snatched from the ground and away from a heavy slamming to the ground. He could also hear the sound of the demon shrieking out in absolute pain from the other sound of a slashing sound.

"It seems that you've made it a habit for me to be at your aid, old friend."

Hayate quickly opened his eyes, and was met with a familiar man holding him. Hayate couldn't help but feel completely safe now that he was actually here with him. The ninja slowly layed Hayate down on the ground.

"R-Ryu…!" Hayate struggled to say through his pain.

"Don't speak. You're severely injured." Ryu said to his fallen companion.

"Well now, I hadn't noticed…" Hayate sneered. "Wait! Wh-What of Ayane?-!"

"Don't worry." The super ninja assured him, "_He _got to her in time."

"He?"

Ryu nodded to the front of him. Hayate followed that nod and saw that the demon's tentacle had been indeed sliced off, and that Ayane was also safe. She was being held bridal style, by a young man who had black cropped short hair, a hooded black coat, and a long claymore sword on his back.

"First demon killer, now a knight savin' hot ninja girls." Dante smirked arrogantly, "Boy, don't I feel lucky."

Dante slowly placed an unconscious Ayane on the ground and called towards the black ninja. "Hey! Ninja guy! I did my end! So better stick with yours, got it?-!"

Ryu nodded in agreement. "I understand. Now end this quickly." Hayate couldn't help but be curious as to what Dante meant by Ryu's "part" in this battle? But he figured now was not the time for questions.

Dante shaked his arms to limber them up for this monstrosity to die painfully.

"So you're the big ol' dick wade who's been makin' these demons sprout up, huh?" Dante remarked while walking slowly to the demonic monster, "Ask these ninjas here, Tentacles are pretty popular in Japan, Y'know. You'd make millions."

"_**Ah, you have finally appeared before me. I must say, it is quite the honor of seeing the son of that filthy traitor for the last time.**_**" **The gorilla demon was ever so pleased to finally see Dante and finish off what he couldn't do so many years ago against his father.

"Son? Sorry, but I don't know a damn thing about my old man. What'd he do, huh? Shove your own tentacles up your ass?" Dante mocked, "And now you're butthurt about it, so you want the next best thing. Well too bad you ain't gonna get to my old man, wherever the hell he is." He then pointed at the demon arrogantly, "'Cause you're about to get merked here."

Hayate was lost for words. This man who was a few years younger than himself, was insulting this larger than life demon so easily with no shed of fear in him at all from his body language of swaggering side to side.

"_**You? Kill me? Ha! You may be his son, but that just means YOU'RE ONLY HALF OF WHAT HE IS!-!**_**"**

The demon growled as he charged at Dante viciously. Dante could only smirk. "And you're fully dead!"

Dante pulled out Ivory and shot at the demon's gorilla arm. The barrage of bullet shots quickly made it lose its balance and tumble easily down to the ground. Dante, with his left hand, grabbed Rebellion and quickly slashed right through that giant arm of the demon. He then turned on the heel and took off his second arm, causing the demon to fall flat on its face. The demon tried to slam a tentacle at Dante, but Dante appeared under its body, and let off another barrage of bullets at its neck, creating a shower of blood all over the floor but strangely enough, no blood got on Dante.

Dante brought Rebellion up and shoved it right into its chest so hard, that its body was levitated from Dante holding it up by his sword. He then cut a circle through its guts and moved out of the way to let that piece of its body slam to the ground. The gorilla demon roared and blasted one of its tentacles at Dante to stab him, but Dante quickly placed Ivory in his teeth, jumped off the abandoned demon guts he cut off, and leaped into the air, grabbing one of the tentacles that happened to be up high in the air over the injured demon beast.

Dante then noticed that the tentacles resided from this gorilla monster's back and all from the only un-furred surface. So he figured maybe if he gets some shots in there, it would stop his annoying tentacles. Not that it mattered to him. He just liked seeing demons weakened and helpless.

The demon, itself, looked up at Dante with a sharp surge of anger adding to its wounds and roared with an ungodly manner.

"_**DAMN YOU, SPARDA!-!-!**_**"**

The monster threw his tentacles wildly at Dante with viciousness and uncontrollable anger. However Dante simply let go and was now plummeting into the demon. He grabbed Ivory from his mouth ready to attack.

"I told you; you ain't gettin' to my old man…" Dante grinned maliciously as he let off three shots that went right to its back where the tentacles resided from. The tentacles suddenly fell limp and straight to the ground with no sign of movement at all, which gave Dante the perfect chance to reverse grip his sword and slam Rebellion right into the demon's head with a downward stab! Its blood splurged all over its body and created a small vortex of blood around the injury Dante inflicted. "…'Cause like I said; you're gettin' merked right here!"

It slowly gagged as it was choking on Dante's sword and its own blood, and soon after, was nothing but a corpse forced into the ground.

Dante jumped off the demon just as it disappeared into dust, placed Ivory on his waist again, swung Rebellion to wipe the blood off of it and placed it on his back once again. "All bark no bite." Dante snorted. "Fuckin' Weak."

Hayate's mouth was slightly agape with astonishment. This seemingly unprofessional dressed man single handedly killed off a giant demon that he and Ayane couldn't even make much of a dent in. He just came in, shot and cut away, and was done in less time than Hayate could accomplish against the same demon. He was also amazed by how his weapons suddenly vanished off of him. Was it a form of ninjitsu that he hadn't seen?

Dante picked up Ayane, who was still unconscious, and walked to Ryu. "Time." He asked.

Ryu checked a small pocket watch he got from his pocket and said, "1 minute."

"Ah hell yeah!" Dante cheered to himself as he put Ayane next to Hayate, who sat up now. "Pay up, blacky."

Ryu nodded. He reached into a pouch on his back waist, and from it pulled out about American dollar bills of $60. Dante accepted it and stuffed it in his pants pocket.

"Pleasure doin' business with ya." Dante smiled. "Y'know, I should really make some sort of business outta this. Killin' demons for profit and all that."

"Indeed you should." Ryu agreed, "Though you are still inexperienced. There's so much left to be learned within you."

"Yeah, well if I wanted to get lectured by some Jap with a leather fetish, you'd be the first to get my calls." Dante sassed with his arms crossed, "But last time I checked, I don't follow lectures, I trample over them and do I what I do best."

"It seems ignorance can be bliss can't it?" Ryu shot. He instigated him in order to truly see what he was behind that facade of banter and arrogance.

"You'd know it." Dante smirked. Dante simply walked away and didn't bother to look back. Though he didn't show it in public to the ninjas, he was very irritated by the super ninja's words. Dante had a right mind to go back there and handle him once and for all. But, he had other things to worry about at the moment. Like finding a new place to live in.

"Wait!"

Dante looked over his shoulder to find that the copper haired male ninja was the one who spoke. Although he didn't look to good for someone who got thrown around like a rag doll by a demon gorilla. Nevertheless, Dante heard him out as he slowly tried to stand with the support of Ryu and Ayane sprung over Ryu's shoulder.

"…Thank you…" Hayate bowed, "If not for you…Ayane wouldn't have made it…and neither would I…so thank you…I am in your debt."

Ryu wasn't absolutely okay with this gesture for a few good reasons, but kept them to himself for the time being. Soon, all three of them vanished from Dante, leaving nothing but black feathers in their wake. Dante raised an eyebrow at their sudden disappearance like that, but shrugged it off as a sort of ninja thing.

"Guess ninjas gotta get around somehow."Dante shrugged. "Now…Where can I find a good place to stay?"

"I've got an idea."

Dante turned to see that a blond beautiful French woman had appeared before him that spoke. Dante couldn't help but eye her as well for her nice legs and full rack too, but as also cautious as well for her. After the whole thing with the last female ninja, Dante had a different approach on sudden women appearing out of nowhere.

"Well now, another hot girl, and it's only 9 in the morning." Dante smiled, "Gotta love New York. So I'm guessin' you need me for something too?"

"In a manner of speaking, yes." Helena replied in a very professional voice, "You are the one known as Dante, that much I am certain of. You are also the son of Sparda, yes?"

There it was again. That name. Sparda. That gorilla beast demon said it before, and now this mysterious blond haired French woman says it too. Who was this Sparda that keeps being said? And was he really his father like Helena said?

"Dante; yes. Son of Sparda…? I guess so." Dante shrugged.

"Good. Come with me. We have much to discuss."

"And why should I go with you?"

"Because…I can tell you who you really are."

Dante didn't for a second, believe her on her words. He's been tricked once before on that offer and it almost got him killed. Now, he's to follow Helena and expect something different? It was too good to be true, and seemed like a trap.

"Really?" Dante said sternly. "I've been trying to find out who I am for years now. And just because you show up and say you know me, I'm gonna say yes to you? I'm not that quick to trust people, y'know."

"I assure you that I am telling you the truth." Helena offered a hand, to which Dante refuses to accept. "You can trust me. I am not of those creatures at all. I am only here to help those in need. So please…"

Dante was silent. He didn't want to trust this woman too quickly and certainly wasn't going to put his well being into her hands. But he figured he _did _need a new place to live anyway. "_And besides, if she does try anything, it's not like she can stop me…_" Dante thought.

"Alright. For now, I'll give you a chance." Dante said with a serious expression."But remember; if you try anything, we're done...Now what do you need?"

Helena smiled. "Splendid, now follow me. There is much to discuss."

Dante nodded and followed Helena to the main part of the ship which was her office. She knew that Dante was a very rare type of being and a hard person to earn his trust, but she knew that this was what she needed. This was the key element that was needed in order to find out what Donovan needs with him and his powers. As long as he was in her possession, Donovan would have had to slow down his plans. Whatever he was planning.

"Oh and, please bring him with us." Helena pointed at the unconscious Zack that was lying on the ground. "I will also need him to discuss something."

"Are you serious?"

"Get it done quickly. ~" Helena smiled and winked as she walked back while Dante was left there. He looked at the unconscious man who looked so absolutely pathetic on the ground there, that Dante could only sigh in annoyance and disappointment.

Dante sighed. "Great. Now I'm heavy lifting idiots. The things I do to get by…"

_**UNKNOWN AREA**_

_**UNKNOWN LOCATION**_

_**12:12 a.m.**_

The room was absolutely pitched back with the echo level being moderately high. Sitting in his rolling chair in front of the bright screens of his super computer, he worked effortlessly through the night and went through stacks and stacks of papers all through the course of the day. It was not as simple as it appeared to be at first, but what was to be expected after you lost your whole company to a woman and a couple of ninja. Just remembering the embarrassment of having his worldwide company stolen right out of his clutches was enough to pop a vein within his skull.

"Damn it!" Donovan slammed his fist on the computer and in his anger, knocked his tea off the table, breaking it as it hit the ground into pieces. "Why?-! Why can't I find him anymore?-! Where has he gone?-!" Donavan stood from his seat, ready to rip out the computer's mainframe and throw it across the room.

However, he halted himself from doing such as he heard the tapping of feat walking to him. He turned to find that it was one of his Kasumi clones, dressed in a maid outfit,that came to pick up the shards of the broken cup, and gather it in a dust pan. She then cleaned the tea up with a small rag and placed it in the garbage provided. And finally, she presented him with another cup, hot and ready.

Donovan turned to his Kasumi clone. "Forgive me. I seemed to have lost my temper for the moment." He placed a small kiss at the top of her forehead and turned back to his computer. "That will be all I require from you. Please enjoy the rest of the day."

The clone bowed in confirmation, and retreated out of the darkened room. Donovan sat back in his chair and studied his notes once more.

"My, my. Aren't you a kind little bugger?"

Donovan almost jumped at the sudden voice, but gained his composure at recognizing that sharp British tongue of hers. He looked over his shoulder to see from the shadows a single woman strolling to Donovan's chair.

"Christie." Donovan said impatiently, "To what do I owe this meeting?"

"No need to speak so darkly of me. Just here to offer my expertise when needed. And it appears it is needed badly." Christie said, brushing her pure white hair out of her blue eyes. The tight leather cat suit she wore took every ounce of will Donovan had to not be swayed by its aspects of revealing…details.

"Always so eager to kill." Donovan remarked, straightening his glasses.

"Can you blame me?' Christie smirked with shrugged shoulders. "It's just a thrill to completely reduce your enemy to nothing, and watch them squirm for dear life…I'm sure that I am preaching to the choir, correct?"

"As if you have the audacity to quote religion."

"Then may God strike me down for all that I've done in this bloody world." Christie giggled mischievously, "So then, my orders?"

"Ah yes." Donovan remembered, "It's pure and dry."

"Aw, that's no fun." Christie pouted playfully. "I like it hard and wet."

"Take it or leave it…"

"So cheeky." Christie smiled dastardly, "I'll accept. Now who's the rat I'm chasing this episode?"

Donovan turned to Christie in his chair with a darkened smile on his face. "Do you know of a young man named…Dante?"

Christie's smile grew in to the famous sardonic and sadistic grins Christie was greatly known for. "Go on…"


	5. 5: The deal

**Hey everyone! Alito here! Sorry I'm so late with this, but I've been so busy with work. But now I'm here to bring you the new chapter of this. So lets get right into it.**

***DISCLAIMER* I own nothing.**

**Chapter 5: The deal**

* * *

_**NEW YORK CITY**_

_**A DOWNTOWN HOME**_

_**9:30 a.m.**_

Mila had to fall flat in her chair just to recover from the over the top day she suffered through today. She locked her door the second she stepped into her home, and removed all her clothes so that the spinning fan over her can cool her half naked body down. She didn't bother to turn any lights on nor open the blinds. All she wanted to do was sit and reflect on today's events.

She had never felt happier to see her home again. It wasn't as luxurious as can be, but it was quite a large living room she was in. There were many Hispanic ornaments lined around, making notice of her background, and the back patio was in need of a good cleaning with all the grass cuttings on it. She looked to her open kitchen, thinking of getting herself something to eat, but she was too exhausted to move a finger.

Nothing could compare to the relief Mila felt at being in the comfort of her own home. However, deep down inside her, she knew that this wasn't going to last. Now that Mila's seen firsthand, what those demons were, more than likely they wouldn't appreciate one of their own being bluggered to death by a human woman such as herself, and they'll want vengeance soon.

Just the thought of such terrible events happening made Mila's relaxation turn into a paranoid caution.

"Maybe I should calm down. Think about other things…Y-Yeah, that's what I'll do. I'm sure those demons are far away from me or were killed by Dante…"

Dante. The very mention of his name brought his arrogant smiling face back into her mind. But what really got her thinking was that name; where has she heard it before? She swore it to be a familiar one. An old friend? Coworker of her past jobs? He didn't seem to know her by name so he either forgot or they never met. Mila wondered if he handled the demons at the docks already. "Should she go check and see?" Mila pondered, "It's not my business to be wrapped up in demon killing anyway, so why go so quickly? Besides, he could be long gone by now…" She sighed irritably, "…I need T.V."

Mila reached for the remote and turned it to the news immediately to see if anything is going on outside her little comfort zone.

"_And in our top story this morning, residence are both shocked and in awe at the sudden arrival of famous female wrestling star, Tina Armstrong appearing right in their neighborhood. However, some find it oddly peculiar how she shows up a few minutes before the bomb ignited within the apartment complex._"

The camera goes to the single black window that was smoking out of its windows. Mila couldn't help but feel at fault with this.

"_Hold it! Wait a minute, ladies and Gentlemen. It appears that Tina Armstrong has just confessed that the bombing was in fact a prop for a movie that she forgot to tell everyone about right away. She said it was to and I quote; "To make the reactions feel real."_"

Mila giggled to herself and hiked a leg up to her chest and sat back. She breathed a sigh of relief. "Guess I don't have to worry about questioning from the police…Thank goodness Ms. T- I mean Tina was there…"

_**MANY MINUTES AGO**_

Tina and Mila watched Dante go off to the dock after reading that paper one last time. Mila couldn't help but feel pleased that she'll have a chance to see Dante again. In whole heartedness, she was excited to see him. She in fact wanted to see him sooner, for who knows when another DOA tournament will begin.

"Mmm, I see that look ya got ther'!~" Tina cooed slyly.

"Huh? What look?" Mila wondered.

"Oh, come on, girl! I see the way you'r' lookin' at that note!" Tina nudged like a girl ready to gossip, "You got the hots for that boy!"

Mila instantaneously went red in the face at such a startling accusation as her heart skipped a beat. "W-What?-! Y-You think—?-! No! _NO_! I'm not in love with the guy!-! I barely even know him at all!-! I'm not so shallow to fall for a guy I JUST met!"

"I don' know. He may dress like a bum, but he ain't exactly bad lookin', Y'know." Tina winked.

"Please stop talking about this, Ms. Tina…" Mila said meekly.

"No need for the Ms., darlin'. Makes me feel old." Tina noted, "Anyway, you better start gettin' out of here, before things get worse."

"Worse?"

"Duh! T.V. crew, private investigators, all that _CSI_ stuff!" Tina exaggerated. "And if they find you snoopin' around here, they'll be all on you in no time! Now get goin'!"

Tina was pushing Mila on her back to get her to start walking or running away.

"B-But wait! What about the witnesses around here!" Mila pointed out, "Someone's bound to talk!"

"Jus' leave that to me! Now go!" Tina insisted.

Mila surely felt that leaving the scene of a possible arsine-infused explosion seemed like start to the life of a criminal, but she also didn't want to end up going to jail at an early age either, so one or the other.

"What about you?"

"Don't worry!" Tina smiled, "Let the star of th' world" handl' all the asteroids."

_**NOW**_

"Let you handle the asteroids, huh?" Mila mumbled with a sigh as she slumped into her chair. "Well…thanks, Tina…Wish I got an autograph though…"

"_Continuing on with our top story, it appears that the infamous terrorist had been spotted within our humble streets of Manhattan. A local witness was able to get a video recording of the criminal who has wrecked havoc in Limbo city and is bringing his turmoil to us._"

Mila's attention was pulled back to the television and she quickly jumped out of her seat and was glued to the television. The video was low in quality but had color at least. She could have sworn she saw wrong, but she could see a figure on the rooftop of a building. And by the looks of it, it seemed to be a familiar diner roof as well.

"Wait…" Mila squinted her eyes and looked closer. Those eyes widened and she could now render in her head the recording of the video. "That's Johnny's Dinner! My work place! But then…who's…?-!" She looked closer and ignored the words being said from the reporter and paid more attention to the person in the recording. She could make out black hair and Caucasian skin. She also made out a black coat and a long item on his back. Kind of like a sword. Those all sounded like…

Mila covered her mouth in shock and backed from the television. She could feel her heart beat pounding on her chest and the hairs on the back of her neck sticking up. Goosebumps embroiled her senses and she could only utter his name."…No…No…! It can't be…! D…Dante…?"

_**DOCKS**_

_**SHIP**_

_**9:31 a.m.**_

"A…A…!AHCOO!-!"

"Bless you."

"Thanks." Dante said, while wiping his nose on his sleeve. Helena looked over her shoulder, and mentally gagged at this young man's poor manners. She wondered why she actually thought it was a good idea to take in this ruffian boy to join her in her investigation of Donavon. She greatly wondered why she was walking alone in the ship's hallway with him either. She didn't know this man, and certainly didn't want to either, but she needed him through and through.

"Guess someone's talkin' about me." Dante smirked.

"I highly doubt that…" Helena remarked.

"Why? 'Cause I'm not all Prince Charming, and shit?"

"_Hygiene would help…_" Helena thought, but instead she said, "No. Because you sort of come off as…"

"…Poor? Disgusting? An asshole? The list goes on, sweetheart." Dante rounded off.

"Those are _some _words I can think of…" Helena mumbled under her breath.

Helena stopped at the front of her office door, and was about to reach for the latch of the door to explain herself more, but was stopped by Dante's voice. "Hey, Helena."

She mentally groaned at his pestering, but turned around with a false disbelieved look at the fact that he used her name for the first time. "Helena? This is quite a surprise. This is the first time you have used my name. What is it?"

"It's time you stop playin' this game with me."

Helena was perplexed with that statement Dante made. So much that she couldn't help but take this game into account. "Whatever do you mean?"

Dante sighed. "See? Right there." Dante then pointed at her. "You're lyin' to me."

"What would allow you to think that?" Helena raised an eyebrow.

"Your left eye."

Helena was confused. "My left…eye?"

"Yeah. Whenever you lie, your left eye squints a bit." Dante smirked, "You may not notice it, but it's there."

Helena was speechless. Though she wouldn't show it on her face, she was both astonished he caught such a trivial twitch of the eye, and frustrated that she let some street rat figure her out so easily, and practically. The sweat was starting to drip from the side of her cheek, which Dante caught an eye of and couldn't help but feel a bit victorious while she was starting to lose her composure.

"_Wait! No! I must relax._" Helena said in her thoughts frantically. "_This could still work to my advantage…Yes. Yes, I might still have a chance to get him to join me…I just have to be careful…and calm._"

"Wise boy." Helena sighed in defeat with her arms crossed. "Yes, you are correct. I do not know anything about Sparda, or anything about you. All I know, as of now, is his name and that you are his son."

"Tsh. That's a letdown." Dante complained. "Here I was thinkin' I could've gotten answers for once. Guess you're not any help or use to me anymore." Dante turned on the heel with hands in pockets. "I'm outta here."

"I'm afraid I cannot allow you to do that." Helena stated rather obnoxiously to the ears. Dante slowly turned his head to look over his shoulder.

"And why's that?"

"Simple." Helena explained odiously. "You see, while you were preoccupied with acquiring Zack for me, I set up a high level security field around this very ship." Helena held hand up to count down what she had. "Heat censor laser fields, cameras being controlled to seek body temperature, Barricaded doors, I do not think you are in any obligation to leave."

Dante couldn't believe how cynical this woman was behaving. And to Dante, no less. That definitely rewarded a small chuckle from him. "You think just because you jailed me in, you have power over me? Trust me, I've seen some jail time, and I know how to get out. Especially out of some giant ass boat like this."

He had a point. This is the same guy who, just a few minutes ago, killed a giant gorilla demon by himself. Who knows what else he could be capable of. Helena needed a way to keep him in her hands in fast, or else he'd leave immediately. Wait. There was one plan that could still work.

"But if you do leave, how will you be able to discover more on Sparda?"

"You said you didn't know anything about Sparda except his name." Dante reminded her.

"True, I don't know who Sparda is, but I know someone who might." Helena persuaded him.

"Really?" Dante said skeptically, "Who?"

"Am I under the assumption that you will follow me after all?" Helena smiled.

Sneaky. She had Dante right where she wanted him. Dante thought it over for a few seconds, and figured the more he knew about Sparda at least, the better. He sighed, and said, "Fine, I'm game."

"Good answer." Helena nodded, "Now then, please enter here."

She pointed at her office, and opened the door for him to enter. Dante didn't feel right just stepping into an office by himself as he knew if she wasn't coming in with him, something didn't go right, but he figured he could just bust himself out of it, so oh well.

Dante walked into the office, taking notice of its spacious luxury and full view of the sea on the horizon. He looked around for anyone else, but it seemed he was alone. He quickly heard the door's creaking as it was closing slowly behind him. Not a good sign in his opinion. He quickly turned and found the person responsible for closing the door, just so happen to be another girl, who also looked very familiar.

"Ah, look who decided to show up again." Dante smirked, "Y'know, if you wanna date, I don't mind. But you'd have to lose the dress. Or just wear it when we're alone."

"I assure you, my being here is nothing of the sort." Kasumi made clear with blush on her face. "I'm here to offer you a deal."

The door finally closed all the way, leaving Helena to stare at it for a few seconds, while thinking of an alternative incase this doesn't go so well. There's only so much she could do as of now, especially in her ruling over DOATEC, and meetings to attend. She didn't have time to be babysitting a street thug with powers, and a ninja obsessed with finding her clone. She had to at least keep herself busy.

"Sparda…" Helena muttered, "I wonder who that truly is…Perhaps it is time I get to know who I am working with."

…

"So let me get this straight; you want me to join you so that you can find this ALPHA 152…and kill her?" Dante said, with his feet on top of Helena's desk as he sat back in her chair. Kasumi didn't like that he was getting dirty feet all over Helena's desk, but ignored it in order to press on with her proposal.

"Yes." Kasumi nodded sternly.

"Mind tellin' me who this Alpha girl is? If she's an alpha female, she must nag like crazy, right?" Dante smirked.

"Please don't treat this as a game." Kasumi said irritably, "I'm serious on finding Alpha. She's a dangerous being that shouldn't exist."

"Yeah, I got it." Dante nodded, "So why do you need me exactly?"

"Because…" She hesitated on telling Dante the truth as to why he was so important, and instead told him a half baked truth. "…I need you to help me defeat her."

"Is she that strong?" Dante took interest.

"Very." She replied as she sat down on the black couch.

"So let me ask this; why is it so important to you to find this Alpha? What's she got to do with you?" Dante questioned more. He really was trying to dig deep into this proposal of hers, and was planning to get every detail of it before he would go out guns blazing like crazy.

Kasumi fidgeted her hands in her lap and felt a cold sweat run down her neck. She couldn't tell him too much, otherwise he'll get too suspicious and wouldn't agree to it. Plus keeping silent wasn't doing any better for building trust with this black haired punk.

"She's…my sister."

Dante eyes Kasumi with such surprise, that she could practically feel his eyes shooting at the back of her head. She feared she had used the wrong words and worried for the worst in the situation…

"Your sister, huh? So…you wanna destroy your sister?"

"Yes."

"And you're okay with this?"

"Yes."

Dante could only give her a confused expression."Why?"

Kasumi didn't have time for his questions and simply wanted to lash out and yell for him shut up and join already, but then that could put their team up in jeopardy, so she stayed quiet about her annoyance, and said calmly, "She's become more then a human. She's become a monster, turned by a mad man who simply wants money for power."

"Mad man. Money. Power. Sounds like this banker back in Limbo." Dante noted to himself.

"Anyway, I know she's been corrupted by him, and I plan on putting an end to her." Kasumi stood up, and turned to Dante, with fire in her eyes and a burning soul. "She would've wanted it this way. And that's how I must do it. For the honor of our family and our bond as sisters, I must defeat her in battle myself."

She couldn't believe how much she was feeding into her own lie. It made her sick that she was lying so hard, but it is the only way that she could see in getting Dante to join her.

"That's where you come in." Kasumi said, "You're strong. Such as being the son of Sparda, you obviously have—"

"Wait, wait, wait. Hold on a second." Dante stopped Kasumi to stand up and walk to her. He was a few steps away from her and leaned on the desk behind him. "So you mean to tell me _you_ know who this "Sparda" is?"

Kasumi stared at Dante as if he had said something strange and out of the general discussion. She didn't believe she heard right so she asked, "W-Wait…you don't know who your father, Sparda, is?"

"Naw, I'm askin' you what the _300_ movie's about." Dante rudely said with sarcasm, but was now stern again, "Helena couldn't tell me shit, so I'm guessin' you're the next best person to ask. So talk."

Kasumi didn't factor in that Dante didn't even know he was related to Sparda. Hell, she no one could factor in that fact upon first meeting. Plus it's not like he stands out or anything for people to question him about it (For whoever in this world even remembers or knows who Sparda is). However, now that she does know this, she could use this to her advantage.

"How much do you know about him?" Kasumi asked.

"Not much. I just know his name, he's apparently my dad, and demons know him."

"I see." Kasumi answered. But in her thoughts, she was happy that she could use this to get Dante to join her, whether for mutual friendship or just a partner, she was going to get closer to finding Alpha now that she has the first piece of the puzzle.

"Well, yes, I do know about Sparda." Kasumi answered sternly, "Possibly more than you do. However, if you want any info from me…" She offered a hand to Dante, to which he stared at it with a skeptical expression. "…You must join me in finding Alpha."

"And what if you die as we go?" Dante crossed his arms.

"I won't." Kasumi answered with determination and a bit of irritation. "I'm strong."

"Yet, you're askin' _me_ for help." Dante smirked, "Oh, the irony."

"I'm serious." Kasumi insisted.

"Are you really?" Dante said sternly, "Can you really handle it?"

"I am strong!" Kasumi raised her voice along with her impatience rising as well.

"It's easy to talk big, instead of actually show it." Dante said bitterly, "Especially after you left your ninja friends here to die on this ship by that demon who—"

"And what do you know?-!" Kasumi argued in fury, "What could you possibly understand about true strength?-! I had to earn my strength in my clan to get…to…"

Kasumi's words faded at the very mention of her clan. She felt ashamed that she could say she was strong from her clan, when she certainly wasn't being a good representative of it, even though she was banished from there, and has since then tried to adjust to a normal life. But even so, that was impossible for her to have. She quickly mussed those thoughts away and focused back on the topic she was so heated on continuing.

"A-Anyway! What about you?-!" Kasumi accused, "You don't even know what it's like to gain true strength, because you were born with it from the beginning! You don't know the hard work that goes into proving one's strength, or dedication. All you do is swing your sword around, but for what reason?-! It's as if you're not even human! You're just being a damned mon—!"

Kasumi's words were snatched into a small shriek, as she instinctively reached for her wakizashi upon being grabbed by the wrist and pushed onto the desk with one of her legs hiked up on the desk as well. She quickly placed her wakizashi at the neck of the black haired demon killer, who was currently towering over her with Ebony pointed at her head and his other hand on the hiked up leg of hers.

She didn't deny the blushing she felt well up on her face at his touch, but that blush vanished as the touch became his nails grazed her thighs painfully. Finally, she started to feel a horrible chill down her spin as she was forced to witness the wrath that filled up in Dante's eyes. The darkness that was physically and mentally disturbing her was enough to make her hands tremble and her heart beat greatly in her chest, causing her to breathe through her teeth.

"You wanna know somethin', busty?" Dante muttered to her threateningly. "Yeah, I know I'm not human, and yeah, I know I can never cope with humanity, and I've known I never will…But I'll be fuckin' damned if I'm gonna let _**ANYONE**_ call me a monster." Dante breathed a heavy exhale from his nostrils, and sounded…remorseful. "Every day for me is a new side of hell. Forced to have to fight the ugly ass demons, making myself feel better with a lot of alcohol and video vixens to screw." She did feel a bit uncomfortable at his conquest of women. "That may seem good every now and then, but after doing this for years…heh, I'm actually surprised I haven't gone insane…"

Dante could no longer even hold his gun up to Kasumi's head no longer. He felt the weight of his past bare on him too much for him to even have the energy to pull the trigger if he wanted to. His hand dropped to his side, and his eyes could no longer stare Kasumi's down. His eyebrows adjusted and his expression was both dull…and sad.

Kasumi also dropped her defenses with her wakizashi and couldn't ignore the pain she could see in him. He really wasn't a terrible maniac who killed monsters for fun, nor was he evil in every bit as Donovan is…

…he was a broken young man…who desperately wanted help…

Silence filled the office, as neither moved from their position. Dante could already fathom the awkwardness of someone coming in and thinking the wrong idea, but honestly, he really didn't care. He just didn't know what to do now. This was the first time he's really broken down to anyone what he truly felt, and frankly, it was hard to say anything for him.

"Then join me."

Dante looked back at the copper haired konoichi to see she was serious about her words, much to his surprise.

"What?" Dante uttered.

"You heard me." Kasumi made clear as she slowly pushed Dante up and her back on her feet. Her hand was still placed firmly on his chest, feeling his heart beat against his chest. Kasumi hadn't realized the severity of how deep her words cut into this dangerous man's heart. It almost made her heart feel as though it was being stretched out. She couldn't believe how inconsiderate she really was to him by almost calling him a monster. Though In a way, he was asking for it.

"I'm sorry if I hurt you like this. I made you go down a path you probably wanted to bury ages ago, and all I did was dig it back up…But if you want to know more about Sparda, then I'll keep my end of the deal." She slowly removed her hand from Dante's chest and looked him straight in the eyes. "I promise. I'll tell you everything I know about your father. Maybe it will explain what you truly are. But only if you help me defeat Alpha." She once again offered a hand to him, "So will you help me?"

Dante still didn't trust Kasumi's words, but for some reason or another…he wanted to trust her.

"Deal." Dante agreed and grasped her hand. She smiled to him, just as he did his genuine smirks. "Let's find Alpha."

_**NEW YORK CITY DOCKS**_

_**Helena's room (Ship)**_

_**9:33 a.m.**_

Helena decided to get some fresh air into her room by letting the windows up and feeling the cool breeze of a hot and sunny day. The cawing of seagulls and the calm ocean ringing in her ears quickly brought her a moment of tranquility. In fact, just the sound of this was reminding her of Zack's money making scheme for Zack island. Too bad a volcano demolished further plans for it. Maybe if she could, she would give Zack the opportunity to create another.

But now was not the time for beach fun thoughts, now was research to be done. However, she looked back at the laptop screen and could feel the blistering pain in her eyes from staring at the bright gammas of her laptop for the night and today. She was surprised she wasn't blind yet. Even still she searched and searched for anything retaining to this Sparda character, but nothing came up at all. It was all blank with mistaken searches for the Spartans of the Trojan War, and the movie _300_. It was literally like trying to find a needle in a hay stack for any leads.

Finally she sighed deeply as she sat back in her seat. "_C'est sans espoir._" She said, "All this is doing is giving me a headache…Still, I cannot believe that there is nothing on Sparda at all…" She messaged her temple and tried to think of all she has done. She's checked security records for criminal stats, did family tree hunts, but nothing. What, was this Sparda not human?

Then it hit her. Human. Was Sparda even human? And what does that make Dante? Was he human with great power? She went back in front of her computer and looked up "demonology." Instantly she received many links pertaining to it. It was almost as if this stuff suddenly popped up on to her screen right when she needed it. She put into the search bar along with that "Sparda" and lo and behold, she got a link.

"Oui!" Helena expressed happily. She clicked on it and a bountiful amount of info presented itself to her blue eyes. All she needed to know was right before her and all she needed to do was save it on her flash drive to take with her in case she needed it. But before that, she had to at least read over it in detail to prove that it truly was reliable info.

"Let's see." Helena muttered.

"_The Tale of Sparda…_

_It is said that 9000 years ago, A single demon rose to power and toke possession of the demon realm as king over all. The strong and all mighty Mundus. He ruled with an iron fist and was tyrannical in his ruling. No force was able to match his overwhelming power, and soon enough, no one tried._

_However Mundus did not rise alone per say, for at his side was his trusted ally that he considered a blood brother. This warrior's name was the legend himself…_

"Sparda…" Helena uttered in interest. She decided to save and continued reading;

"…_Sparda was a strong guardsman for Mundus and would usually follow his orders under a master and guardsmen's oath, but Sparda did something unholy of the greatest kind and would forever alter the Earth for all eternity; he –"_

Suddenly in a split second, her computer screen split to black right in front of her eyes! This took her by surprise but also raised her anticipation for the result of Sparda's action. She groaned irritably and checked her laptop's screen button and batteries in case, but everything was fine from what she saw. No bugs and the battery pack was just fine. So why? Why would this suddenly happen now of all times?

As if to answer her wonderment, The computer screen switched back on automatically, but instead of being met with the company's logo of the laptop, she instead got a blank white page with words written on it.

"_**Why hello there, princess. Did my info be of assistance to you?**_**"**

Helena was at first confused, but then felt her somber anger starting to boil once she realized that only one person calls her princess to start her sentence about her. She honestly wanted to just break the computer to pieces, but knew if she did she could probably lose more data on Sparda.

She had no choice but to engage in this post discussion.

"**What do you want, Christie?"**

She sent her reply, and a few seconds later, another message appeared.

"_**Am I under the impression that that was supposed to be a question out of spite? How mean.**_ _**And after I linked you that info into your computer as well. You should be grateful."**_

"**That was you? Never thought a snake would be so generous."**

"_**I like to think of it more as a snake offering her prey a two second head start. I'm afraid I won't be able to present you with all the info that you would like to hear."**_

Helena wondered what Christie's intentions were by leaving so quickly? Usually she'd revile in her insulting of Helena and her issues, but here, she seemed to be teetering on the edge of playful banter. A bit different then what she was usually doing when it came to her victims.

"**Wait. Why would you show me a file on Sparda if you're only letting me read a portion of it? Better yet, how do you know I haven't copied this info onto a file already?"**

Helena sent the message, waiting for a reply to her. Helena smiled a little as she was smart to think ahead and save over the page of Sparda while reading just in case.

Christie finally replied back after a minute of waiting.

"_**Not anymore, you don't.~"**_

Helena's smile quickly fell as she frantically checked her files on her computer to the one she saved Sparda's story on; it was nowhere to be seen. It was completely barren of anything to do with Sparda anymore along with a few of her other files involving the DOATEC's private business accounts and even her private lyrics for a possible opera in the future. Helena bit her gritted her teeth in furious anger. How dare she take away something so important to her just because she can? It's bad enough Christie was the killer of her mother, now she takes away Helena's work to carry on her mother's legacy? That's just evil.

"You bitch…!" Helena hissed as she slammed her fist into her table.

"_**I'm afraid this is all the time I have. Meanwhile, I'll have to keep in touch with you another time. As of today, I'm looking for a strong man to wrap my arms around…until his eyes roll up~ Until we meet again. Ta-ta~"**_

The computer screen turned black once more and the room got a bit darker all of a sudden. Helena was in raged that she actually let herself be infiltrated so easily by that damned witch so easily. It was almost deathly infuriating just thinking about it…

"No…! No…Must calm down…calm down…" She breathed in and out slowly, gaining her composure once more so she doesn't get so worked up over all this. An agitated mind is an easily tempered mind, and that is something that cannot be had when you're the leader of an international cooperation. She quickly switched on her laptop and went right to her files to check for something. She went through picture files and saw that at least some of her pictures were still there, while a few were gone thanks to that witch. However, there was one file that wasn't gone.

The file that said "Leap Frogging."

Helena smiled. "Good…she didn't take it."

Helena clicked on that file and before her screen appeared the page of Sparda's history that she copied and pasted as quickly as possible while she was reading it. She disguised the page as a computer game, hoping Christie wouldn't take it as well. Her plan was a success and now she had detailed info on Sparda. She quickly printed the pages out and held on to them within the confines of her desk for safe keeping.

"Now that that's taken care of…" Helena muttered as she exited from that file and was about to close her laptop. However she stopped herself as she noticed that something was wrong. The picture file was filled with only 10 photos instead of 11. She remembered all the photos were of either her or her mother, and only one was of…

"No…!" Helena gravely realized the photo that was missing was the picture of the only girl she could trust…the last one of her family…The one Christie has her eyes and fangs on.

"Kokoro…"


	6. 6: Escape from NY

**Hey everyone! Alito here! Time to do another chapter of this fanfic. Since there have been a lot of questions that people want answered, I'm only going to answer a few of them here. Now then;**

**In terms of Dante being God level, I'd like to point out that I know full well Dante's abilities, and will keep him consistent in that regard.**

**With fight scenes I plan not to get to wordy if they are quick ones and be descriptive if they are long.**

**I've taken into account that Sparda is imprisoned, and fully aware of his situation with that.**

**Yes, this fanfic takes place before the DmC game, where Dante generally doesn't know who he is.**

**That "froggy" file was a way to keep Christie away from it since it wouldn't seem important to her.**

**As the chapters have said, Helena doesn't know anything on Sparda yet.**

**Now then, let's begin this chapter, shall we? ;)**

***DISCLAIMER* I own nothing.**

**Chapter 6: Escape**

* * *

_**NEW YORK CITY**_

_**ON THE WAY TO THE DOCKS**_

_**9:49 a.m.**_

Mila Ran as fast as she could, dressed in a track suit, and her UFC gloves tied to her waist. She also had to make sure she was not seen by too many people. She had to remember even though it was all taken care of, she was still at that exploding apartment scene and even though Tina nipped that in the bud, there were still people bound to be buzzing around, looking for her to explain more on what Tina wasn't telling the press.

She had made it through the park, and continued down its path, until she reached one last building which she knew was one turn away from the docks where Dante should have headed. She had taken the turn, expecting to see a large damaged ship and nothing more. However, upon her discovery, waiting there were a swarm of police cars with their lights flashing wildly. There were also large metal cars surrounding the docks with heavy armed S.W.A.T men guarding the entire dock area from anyone getting through.

"Shit!" Mila whispered as she secluded herself back behind the building wall. Her heart beat loudly and her breathing seeming to catch a hitch. She was unsure what to do now. Would Mila risk it all and try to sneak onto the ship, or go home…and risk her only reason for even coming to the ship…No. This was too important for her to pass up. She couldn't let this go. She clenched her palm and took a chance.

Mila rounded the building and appeared on the far side of it from the authority. From there Mila ran far to the other side of the docks. While running she looked around her surroundings, and luckily, coming up to her, was a metal chain with a hook on it. She instantly made a grab for it and ran over to the edge, where she jumped right into the cold ocean.

Mila's head perched up as she breathed air once more. She held the chain tightly as she could, while swimming past the eyes of the law from detecting her. The police were ever so vigilant of the area and were now searching in the ocean for clues. Mila had no choice but to go deep under the ocean so as to not be found. After tough endurance of breath holding, Mila breathed hard in front of the other side of the giant ship before her. With all her might, Mila spun the long chain over her head and chucked it right at the ship's edge, hoping it would hang on the beins. After three tries, she was successful.

Mila had made it on to the ship's long deck, soaked to her panties, but still carried on. She had to make sure to keep out of the copper chopper's sight with no police charging at her or sirens going off on her. In fact the ship seemed very barren from her point of view. Though it seemed a hard battle had taken place on its deck and blood was splattered quite a ways around the ship.

"What happened here…?" Mila uttered, "Did Dante do this…? And where's he?"

She looked at her surroundings to make sure there were no dangerous people around and quickly made a break for the main office of this giant boat. She had reached the door and quickly pried it open even though it was too dark in the room with nothing but a bit of light coming in from the large holes from the roof. Mila ran right inside, turned to the door to lock it properly, and was about to turn forward to continue exploring, however…

"Don't move! Don't even turn around, or I will shoot."

Mila instantly froze in her tracks and raised her hands up to show she surrendered and didn't wanna fight. Especially with a gun pointed towards her.

"W-Wait! Wait! Don't shoot! I-I'm not here to hurt anyone…!" Mila quickly made clear in a fearful tone.

"Who are you?" The voice demanded in a French accent. She was also obviously a woman from the sound of her voice, "And why areyou here?" The clicking of her gun made it all to clear for Mila to not lie to this woman.

"O-Okay! Just…Just hear me out for a second!" Mila begged, "I-I know this may sound crazy and unexpected of a random persona but…I was looking for somebody that came this way!"

"Really?" The woman said skeptically.

"Y-Yes! H-He had black hair, uhhh, a black coat…aaand, a sword on his back!"

Helena kept her surprise behind a poker face. She wasn't expecting a girl to come by and say she wanted Dante. Better yet, how did this red haired woman even know Dante in the first place? A past meeting Helena at first presumed, or Dante was a bigger womanizer then she anticipated. Either way for her to sneak in here knowing armed men were waiting outside was quite an poke of interest to Helena.

"What do you want with him?" Helena asked.

"So he's here?-!" Mila said hopefully.

"I am the one who is asking the questions." Helena demanded, "Now, explain yourself; how do you know this man?"

"O-Oh! He saved me from-!" Mila silenced herself from uttering that word. If she said that word, more than likely she'd have to face a pumbling of insults and laughter. But which was worse; telling her the truth and only suffer embarrassment, or keeping that quiet and falling to the ground dead? Dead. She didn't want to think of that word and quickly casted it out of her mind, focusing on the situation at hand. Besides, there was a giant demon gorilla on this very ship an hour or so ago, so obviously This French woman knew what Mila would say. "W-Well…he…he just saved me from some really bad…men…"

"You mean demons."

Mila quickly turned around and came face to face with a beautiful blond woman in a blue outfit and blue eyes. Although it was a bit too dark to see her face clearly, she could still at least make out her appearance. Mila's surprise was interrupted by the gun still pointed at her, but even so this didn't deplete her surprise completely, as she now realizes that her Tina and Dante weren't the only ones who could see demons. Although she had a feeling they weren't the only ones.

Finally something processed into Mila's mind as she really got a look at the woman with her gun. Mila squinted her eyes to get a good view of her, and finally outburst with a gasp and complete shock! "O-Oh my God! Y-You're Helena Douglas!-!"

"Shhh!" Helena hissed. "Not so loud!"

"S-Sorry…But still, you really are THE Helena Douglas! The head of DOATEC and establisher of DOA tournaments as well!" Mila said in amazement.

Though Helena enjoyed being recognized by her success, now was not the time for such flattery. "I appreciate the words, but I am afraid we don't have much time now."

"What do you mean?" Mila asked.

"I mean we are not alone in this ship." Helena said looking around for any movement within the shadows of the hallway they were in. "Now that you are here, you are involved in this." Helena turned back to Mila with a stern expression. "Not only that, but you seem to be able to see the demons as well. This is too coincidental…"

Helena found this to be way too convoluted to be just a simple coincidence. There are the ninjas, Dante, Zack, this girl, and herself; all of which can see and fight demons when they appear. It's almost as if the demons are only showing their presence to them. However this all didn't happen until…Dante appeared. Is Dante connected to them being able to see demons?

"U-Um…Ms. Helena? Do you mind lowering your gun now?"

Helena was brought out of her train of thought and realized that she still was, indeed, pointing her gun at this poor girl like she was a criminal.

"Oh. Sorry." Helena apologized, lowering her gun. "For now, let's get to the submarine pod."

"Can't we just sneak out from here?" Mila said, pointing at the door she came from.

"Too late. Do you hear that?" Helena gave a listen to a sound from outside along with Mila. Both could hear the sound of stomping and guns being filled with ammo. There were also the static voices of a radio walkie talkie. "They have already gotten that area completely surrounded. Consider yourself lucky to even get in here. Come on!"

Mila nodded and followed Helena throughout the hall, before Helena stopped Mila suddenly. Helena held her gun close as she looked at the edge of the hall with a focused complexion. Mila didn't know what to expect, decided to slip on her UFC gloves just in case the situation got bad.

Helena stared at the single figure walking around, and waited for It to walk away, allowing her to walk right through. Finally it walked away, to Helena's relief as she was just about to stroll though.

"Ah…Ah…AHCHOO!"

The figure quickly halted, and looked over its shoulder, its eyes glowing a blood red upon hearing that single sneeze!

Helena took a chance and went for it. She turned at the hallway and let off three shots at the single man, his aching shrieks echoing throughout the hallway, and finally, his body falling flat to the ground!

"Bless you." Helena said angrily at Mila, reloading her gun with more bullets.

"S-Sorry…" Mila said meekly. "I _was _in the ocean for a bit…Or maybe someone's talking about me."

Helena couldn't help but break a small smile from that analogy. Funny that Dante said the same thing upon her first meeting of him. "_Guess I found who was talking about him…_" Helena thought.

Helena walked past the body, gun held at the ready, with Mila right behind her. Mila looked at the dead body on the ground, only to see in horror that he was a police officer whose eyes were completely red…just like her boss. But he was dead and the pool of blood proved that.

"I'm a bit surprised." Mila commented.

"By what?" Helena asked, not bothering to look Mila's way.

"Well, I didn't know demons could die with regular weapons like that."

"I assume it is because they are in their human forms." Helena figured.

"You assume?"

"Look! Bio-weapons and Demons are two different things!" Helena set straight, "Now hurry!"

"R-Right!" Mila continued to follow Helena through the dark corridors of the large ship, being extra careful of the lingering and patrolling officers whose eyes glowed with such red intensity that Mila feared that her red hair would grab too much attention. They seemed so lifeless standing around. Like they were nothing but puppets. Though they had the ability to walk around, they still seemed…dead inside.

"Here we are."

Helena slowly opened the door to a basement level of the ship that was also very dark within its room.

"Close that door." Helena said.

Mila did so and slowly closed off the last bit of light they had. Helena grabbed a small flashlight that was in her pocket and slowly walked down the stairs. It was dead silent, not a single noise besides the creaking of the stairs and the sound of the ocean from outside gathering on the ships walls. Mila felt a cold chill up her spine the deeper they went into the darkened hell. As if they were going into a completely different realm and there was no turning back now.

The two finally reached the last stair and appeared before a dark large area that was blinded in darkness. Helena shined her flashlight upon the large ship that was pure white from what Mila could see, and the ship itself was the size of a small house.

"Come. We must hurry out of here." Helena ordered. "It is only a matter of time before—"

Helena was suddenly interrupted as something had wrapped its arms around Helena's neck and forced her to drop the flash light!

"Helena! Helena!" Mila called out.

There was the sound of a struggle and Helena yelling in French! There was also the sound a an anguished shriek of an unholy nature. Finally, Mila was able to get the flash light again and shine it at the scene of Helena finally finishing off a police demon with a swift punch to the abdomen!

The police demon fell flat on its face, while Helena brushes her bangs back in victory. "_Ver._"

She turned back to Mila, whose mouth was slightly agape to Helena's swift finisher.

" Close your mouth and lets go already." Helena smiled.

"R-Right." Mila nodded.

Helena climbed up the ladder of the submarine and opened the hatch to jump into it, along with Mila. The two were once again susceptible to darkness, until Helena shut on the fights. Suddenly Mila was now in awe at the submarine's inside. It was pure white with tiled floors and even some relaxing chairs to sit in. There was a book shelf on the wall and paintings that looked very valuable lining the rest of the walls. On the far left was a flat screen television and on the other side of that was a long couch.

"W-Wow!" Mila uttered.

"You can admire the scenery later. For now, we must head to the control room." Helena suggested.

Helena walked through the long hallway that was just as tilled as the main room and walked all the way to the end of the hallway to a door that was locked and the only way through was through a security code.

"Do you know it?" Mila asked her.

Helena could only turn her head and give Mila a cocked eyebrow of a look, which pretty much answered her question. Helena turned back to the tab and pressed the corresponding numbers on it. With a small beep, the door had unlocked and opened in on itself. Helena stepped into the control room quickly, along with Mila, as both stood within a rounded room that wasn't at all like the other room or the hallway. This room was black and only had two seats; a passenger and driver seat. There was a window in front of them and a main command system that controlled the sub.

Helena quickly switched on the controls as all the buttons and knobs lit up. Almost like an airplane's control room would. Helena did a few button pushes and knob turnings, and finally a loud rumble could be heard. Suddenly the boat started to feel like it was descending and from the window, they could now see water fill it and soon, an ocean of it.

"Okay then." Helena muttered. "Auto Pilot." She sat at the driver's seat and started to press in a coordination on the keyboard of a black screen in front of her. "Destination; Japan."

_**2 days later**_

_**JAPAN **_

_**TOKYO**_

_**20:37 p.m.**_

After a grueling long plane ride, along with the absence of pizza at all, Dante and Kasumi made to the land of the rising sun; Japan. Tokyo to be exact. The streets were filled with people, all getting to where they needed to be and the building lights shining brightly in the star-filled sky.

"Wow. Japan really is as bright as people say." Dante said looking around in amazement. "No wonder people keep sayin' they wanna come here."

Dante was having quite the time in the city as he caught a lot of attention from people staring at his strange hair style and much wrinkled old coat, to girls who stared at him but turned away with blush on their cheeks and giggling amongst themselves. "Looks like I'm gonna love it here." Dante smirked.

Dante turned to Kasumi, only to find that she didn't seem too thrilled about going into Japan. In fact she felt downright troubled about even being out in the open like this. She tried to not seem so conspicuous by dressing in a beautiful white dress and hiding her wakizashi in her bag, along with wearing professional glasses. Meanwhile Dante didn't change much on him. All he did was change his shirt to an ACDC black shirt and dark grey jeans.

"What's up with you?" Dante asked. "Aren't you happy to be back home?"

"Y-Yeah…" Kasumi said meekly, "It's just…I didn't expect to be back here so soon…If I did, I would have been more prepared."

"Yeah, Frenchy did spring that on us out of the blue."

_**2 DAYS EARLIER**_

_**NEW YORK**_

_**DOCKS**_

_**9:34 a.m.**_

"Japan?" Dante repeated.

Dante and Kasumi were standing within Helena's private room, where she sat her desk, chin resting on her wrist as she explained the situation that needed to be handled.

"Yes." Helena nodded. "I would like you two to travel to Japan."

"R-Really…?" Kasumi said in surprise. "What for?"

Helena felt a grave feeling shadow over her, and couldn't help but show it on her face that something was bothering her greatly. Dante and Kasumi caught wind of this and were even more worried as to what could be the problem. Well Kasumi was more worried, Dante was curious to the problem.

"You see, I fear that someone there has been targeted…" Helena answered solemnly, "Someone I care about..."

"Kokoro…" Kasumi answered with worry.

Dante turned to Kasumi in confusion, and then turned back to Helena with the same look. "Who?"

"Helena's half sister." Kasumi answered.

"What's with you two and sisters? Guess I just have that kind of luck with women." Dante smirked to Helena, to her annoyance.

"My sister is in possible danger and is being targeted by one of the world's most dangerous female assassins, and you want to be a flirt now of all times?-!" She said angrily, "Now is not the time for advantages, you gigolo!"

"Gigilo? I prefer "_explorer of women_" better." Dante grinned.

Both Kasumi and Helena sighed at Dante's attempts to be the funny guy at the wrongest time. Helena quickly caught herself before she jumped out of her seat and beat Dante with her chair till he bled to death or his head was completely crushed in. Now was not the time for rage, she needed to think clearly for the rest of this situation she was going through.

"Anyway…This is a very serious assignment I am about to give to the both of you." Helena breathed in and back out as she admitted her favor to the powerful pair; "I want you two to travel to Japan to find Kokoro and guard her until I get there myself. This is very important to me that you two do this without fail."

"Who's after your sis?" Dante questioned. "Do you know when this asshole will strike?"

"I'm not sure. With her, it is a mystery…" Helena said.

"Her?" Kasumi realized, "Wait! Is it Christie again?-!"

"How did you know?" Helena wondered.

"Because it seems pretty likely that she'd be the one to be doing all of this. She's a demon who sinks her claws in anyone she wants and kills without any remorse." Kasumi said bitterly.

"So this Christie chick. She's some kinda assassin, right?" Dante grinned, "Not a very good one if we know her name and how she is."

"Even so, she's very dangerous. You both should be careful." Helena spoke from experience. She has witnessed firsthand what Christie is capable of and what she is willing to do to either get her job done, or fulfill her own sadistic tendencies. But now Helena had her own sadistic killer on her hands; a demon killer who she hopes will turn that devil woman into mince meat.

"But what about Alpha?" Kasumi stepped in, catching Dante and Helena's attention. "We still need to find her at all cost!"

"I know this. But also remember, ALPHA 152 is still in its prototype state at this time. It won't be able to fight or even move for awhile now." Helena reminded her. "If anything, this is also a good opportunity to be able to visit your old friends."

Kasumi didn't want to accept that, but she knew full well that Helena was right in her first sentence. Alpha was still in an inactive state and wasn't able to be its evil self yet. But still Kasumi didn't want something so powerful let out into the world for mankind to suffer greatly. It really tugged at her nerves to be abandoning her greatest mission, but she couldn't say she wasn't expecting _something _to trip her up. Besides, the faster she gets this mission over with, the better.

"I understand." Kasumi nodded with an infirm smile. "I mean, at least I _can_ see some of my old friends."

"And I get a good vacation." Dante grinned. He could only imagine the things he'll see in Japan. When he was younger, he always wanted to go to Japan and being a high schooler there like the mangas he use to read. Hunting demons, being in harems, the whole deal. But then again, he could hardly stay in school with all the demons constantly attacking him on every turn.

"Alright then." Helena nodded as she reached into her drawer. She pulled out two folders that you'd see in detective movies. She presented both of them with one. "I have enrolled you both as high school students at her high school, Nichisora High. You two are to be students there and keep an eye on her till I arrive within Japan to go from there. All I need now is to choose your names."

"I don't think this'll work." Dante pointed at himself, "Do I look like a fifteen year old to you?"

"Nonsense. High school boys end up looking quite older then they appear anyway. Plus, you do look young enough to be at least eighteen."

"If I look eighteen, then I can imagine the shit teenagers can get themselves into." Dante commented to himself.

"Anyway, your names. What will be them?" Helena asked.

"Um…I guess I'll be…Haru...ko?" Kasumi figured. "Haruko…Matsunaga."

"Swag McLovin." Dante smirked.

Helena and Kasumi just stood there, giving him very judgmental expressions.

"Fine fine, I'll take Jack. Jack…Redgrave."

"Redgrave?' Helena wondered, "Why that?"

"'Cause I like the color red, and I put demons in graves, so I figured "_Redgrave_" would be good." Dante shrugged. "Better than nothin'."

"Quite. Anyway, make sure you remember these names. They are your only way into the school along with the transcripts as well." Helena stated.

"But wait, what about you?" Kasumi brought up. "Why can't you come with us?"

"I have matters of my own to handle." Helena confessed while standing from her desk to stretch a bit. Dante noticed that her stretching her arms up made good note of her breast. He couldn't deny that she had an impressive rack to show off. Maybe even better then Tina's.

"Dante…" Helena called, making him snap back from his boob trance. "…You have heard of the Dead or Alive Tournament, no?"

He tried to recall where he had heard such a name before. Finally he remembered Mila talking about it, and him writing that he'd be in it. "Heard some rumors."

"It's for publicity. DOATEC has a new leader, a new direction. Which we need to announce to the world." Helena explained crossing her arms in the process, "So I am holding the fifth Dead or Alive Tournament…just as my father would have done."

"Hold on. Why the hell're you startin' a tournament now, after you just said your sister's bein' targeted?" Dante questioned, "That's not exactly somethin' I'd be ignoring right away."

"Who said I was ignoring that?" Helena pointed out. "But creating the tournament is a top priority as well. Its second goal is to bring forth the past fighters so that I can analyze them."

"Analyze?" Kasumi wondered.

"Yes. It seems that these demons are attacking a set group of people." Helena explained while strolling slowly to the door. "There is you, Kasumi, me, Ayane, Hayate, Zack, and of course, you Dante. My question is…why?" She turned back to the two, but stared at Dante. "You seemed to have been dealing with these demons for the longest from the way you killed that giant demon. How are you able to interact with them?"

"That's a good question." Dante shrugged, "I've been doin' this for 12 or 13 years now, and I still haven't found an answer. I just decided not to back down anymore and fight…but…maybe it's because I'm not human…" He said this in a very depressed manner. Kasumi figured their talk still stung him deeply and he hasn't fully gotten over it yet. Dante noticed the stare of concern Kasumi was giving him, and tried to not seem so sad about it by smirking his arrogant smile and saying "…But hey, that just means these asshats aren't pullin' one over me."

"I see…well in any case, I should be going." Helena said, opening her door, "I have scheduled Zack to drive you both to the airport where a private jet of mine will see to your arrival in Japan. I shall in form you more on my plans with Dead or Alive when I arrive there as well."

"What will you be doing until then?" Kasumi asked.

"Simple." Helena smiled, "I must give the announcements for the tournament's long awaited return. It will most likely appear in Japan by the time you arrive there. Until then, _Au revoir._"

_**PRESENT**_

_**TOKYO**_

_**20:38 p.m.**_

"Well she did say that announcement will be shown in Japan by the time we get here." Dante remembered, while looking at the jumbo screen on the face of one of the buildings. There was only a news report on there at the moment but no DOA announcements. "Well we're here anyway, so we might as well make the most of it."

"I guess…" Kasumi didn't really want to return for more than one reason. She didn't want to be recognized by possible ninjas from the Mugen Tenshin clan that are scouting the area. Especially her own family like Hayate, or Ayane. Just standing in the open like this made her feel absolutely nervous to the bone.

Dante stretched his arms up and yawned widely. "Well I don't know about you, but I feel like jumpin' in a bed and laying my ass down."

"We can't sleep yet." Kasumi objected, "We have a job to do already. We need to find Kokoro before the night is up. The faster we do this, the faster we can get back to finding Alpha."

"Ugh, you and Alpha! That's all you ever talk about." Dante sighed irritably, "Look, I know she's your sis and all, but can't you try to have a little fun for once?"

"How can I possibly have fun with a dangerous creature like her out there, being controlled by a psychopath?" Kasumi countered, as she looked Dante in the eyes. "This isn't some game to me like life is to you! I have responsibilities of my own! Responsibilities that don't involve wasting time!"

There were no words that spoke between the two. Only that long glance into one anothers eyes with no immediate response following.

Finally Dante broke the glance only to snicker to himself and say, "Y' know, you're never gonna get a dude with that kind of attitude."

"E-Excuse me?-!" Kasumi questioned.

"Come on, Ms. Ninja in pink. I think we both know that you're seriously lacking in the "boyfriend" department." Dante noted. "I mean really, when was the last time you were with a guy, huh?"

"W-Well…" Kasumi tried to explain, but suddenly realized that she had lingering eyes from passer by males look her way in anticipation for their chance to possibly strike with her. Some as young as her, others older, and a group that wasn't exactly the honest nice ones who always followed the rules. Even though they couldn't speak English, they knew that something was up, or they were attracted to Kasumi.

Then Kasumi noticed something. "Wait. Why call me Ms. Ninja in Pink if I'm…not…" Kasumi's words faded as she realized what Dante meant by Ms. Ninja in Pink. She blushed a deep red and held her dress down intensely. "Y-You pervert!" She yelled in Japanese.

"Hey, blame the wind for that one." Dante said, defensively, "It's like it only targets girls in dresses or skirts. Not that I got any problem with that." He smirked.

All this was doing was bringing more interested males closer and closer to the scene, to Kasumi's sheer embarrassment that Dante just bluntly revealed the color of her panties to pretty much everyone. She was lucky some of them couldn't understand Dante, but even so there were bound to be a few who could translate. "Ugh! I can't believe you! You're such a—!"

"Wait! Look, its Helena."

Dante pointed at the jumbo screen on the building, to which Kasumi turned to see for herself. It really was Helena, but she was dressed in a white dress, and was seemingly sitting outside at a desk. She certainly looked presentable, as she had cosmetics on and lipstick as well. Looking better then when Dante and Kasumi saw her.

"_Good day everyone._" Helena began in a professional voice. There were also Japanese subtitles at the bottom at the screen. "_My name is Helena Douglas. And I have the pleasure of speaking with you all today on behalf of the newly reformed DOATEC._

Meanwhile, a few steps ahead from Dante and Kasumi's location, walking forward to the jumbo screen was a young woman, no older then at least eighteen or nineteen was wearing a school uniform and glasses. Her ebony long hair flowed in the slight breeze as her hazel eyes gazed at the sight of the beautiful French woman presenting herself on the screen.

"Oh. It's her!" She said happily, "The woman from the tournament…Dead or Alive." The girl was mesmerized by the pleasure of actually seeing the blond French woman again after such a long time. She couldn't even keep her eyes off the screen nor hear anyone else's conversation either. "Maybe…if I entered…I could meet her again…"

Back with the duo, Kasumi looked forward at the black haired woman in the school uniform in front of them and noticed something familiar about her. She was staring very intensively at the screen and didn't seem to pay attention to anyone or anything else. Finally it hit Kasumi instinctively. "Dante! The girl right there! That's—!"

"Look out!-!" Dante yelled as he suddenly, and without warning, embraced Kasumi tightly and jumped out of the way to the ground! Just in time for a very heavy building rod to slam right into the ground and create a powerful shock wave that crumbled the street into a small crater!

Dante quickly got him and Kasumi up to see that the rod was on fire as well and people reacting to this phenomenon with scattering in fear.

"The hell was that all about?-!" Dante outraged, while adjusting his coat.

"I-I don't know." Kasumi answered, dusting herself off. "Thanks for the save."

"No problem." Dante nodded, "Now what was that you—?"

Then, all at once, many things around the general area started to fall apart in a blaze of fire, or explode with no logical explanation to it all! It was as if the city was being terrorized by a bomber as people scattered away from the explosive scene and shrieked in terror!

"What the hell's goin' on here?-!' Dante exclaimed intensively, "God, why is it that Tokyo always has to have explosions?-!"

"This is bad! Where is she?-!" Kasumi said looking frantically around. Finally, she saw that same woman in the school uniform, standing there, still staring at the screen as if nothing had happened at all among the fires and destruction.

"What the fuck's up with her?-!" Dante inquired.

The girl stood there for a few seconds before initially crouching down in fear as she exclaimed, "Oh my God! This is awful! Why is Tokyo so scary?-!"

"_No way. There's no way she's that slow…_" Both Dante and Kasumi thought simultaneously.

Suddenly Dante felt a dark an ominous feeling creep up his spine. Kasumi also felt this chill of dread and could easily mistake it for the cool air, however cool air doesn't have the feelings of death to follow it, or the smell of blood either.

"Shit. Here they come." Dante announced, pulling out Ebony and Ivory from his waist.

"Yes. I sense them too." Kasumi noted as she pulled her wakizashi from her bag.

Suddenly, the people who were running away from the scene still vanished into thin air and the skies became a dark red while rapidly spinning above them. The buildings broke apart before their eyes and froze in the air like something was holding them there!

"What's going on now?-!" Kasumi said holding her wakizashi on the ready while standing back to back with Dante.

"It's the demon's world. Or as I like to call it; Limbo." Dante answered. "The demons pulled us in."

"W-Wait! What about Kokoro?-!" Kasumi looked back at the scene.

"Kokoro?-! That's the girl we had to find?-!" Dante also looked to the position of the ebony haired girl and noticed that she was now standing up and looked around the city, and stare up at the sky. To Dante's surprise, she was fully solid and was even seeing the same thing Dante and Kasumi were seeing.

"W-What is all this?-!" Kokoro exclaimed cautiously.

"_Wait! Why was she dragged into Limbo with us?-!_" Dante thought.

Very abruptly, strange dust started to gather, surrounding the entire area around the three. The dust intensified and separated into then individual twisters before all three of them, until finally they vanished, but in their absence were human sized beings who had the bodies of stitched up humans, with the arms of clawed beast, the legs of bloodied up dragons, the sharp tails of demons, and finally, the bleeding, scaring faces of horrid monsters, who's deathly shrieks echoed throughout the city!

"My God…" Kasumi uttered in sickness.

Kokoro quickly backed away from them, trembling ever so slightly, but the demons dragged their feet in a creepy manner while groaning aguishly at her. All the demons that were around dragged their feet from their positions and were slowly headed for Kokoro with their claws ready to kill.

"Wait a minute…" Dante noticed something odd about the demons. They didn't appear before Dante like they always did and didn't even make much of a move to come after him at all. They only appeared before Kokoro and looked as though they were ready to hack her to pieces with no hesitation at all!

"Shit! They're not after me…!" Dante confirmed, as he saw them going for Kokoro. "…They're after her!"


	7. 7: Trouble in Tokyo

**Hey everyone! Alito here! Time to continue on with this fanfic. I was so close to getting DmC, but alas, my mother nor me had no money -_- **

**Anyway, I'm about to hit college soon, so I gotta get me a job to get some money for thing's I'll need. (DmC being one of them and Killer is Dead) Anyway enough of my personal problems. Let's get to the characters' problems.**

**Also I fear that I accidently made a mistake with the demon I made. I feared that I accidently made a blunder in repeating something without knowing with this demon. You'll probably see it as well. And if you do, sorry. Really I am! DX**

**A-Anyway, Here we go!**

***DISCLAIMER* I own nothing.**

**Chapter 7: Trouble in Tokyo**

* * *

_**JAPAN **_

_**Mugen Tenshin Village**_

_**20:42 p.m.**_

The moon shined a full gaze over the village hidden within the mountains. It almost seemed as though there was piece in this large village. It certainly has grown prosperously under the rule of the 18th Mugen Tenshin leader, Hayate. Even so, he felt a great amount of shame from being unable to move an inch and laying in his futon. His room was quite darkened and the only source of true light was from the moon outside. He could only stare up at the wooden planked roof, thinking deeply about the events that put him in this broken boned state in the first place. Then that black haired man came to mind.

What was he? How was he able to stand so confident in the presence of such a beast? Hayate has fought some "out-of-this-world" people and creatures before, but this was different. The beast had many enhancements that allowed it to not be defeated from quick healing, to lightning fast tentacles. And Ayane, who's still recovering from her life threatening injuries, has yet to awaken. She even used the Tokkosho and that still didn't have an effect on it. He wanted to use the Mugen Tenshin's secret technique, but that would take time to build up. And that demon wasn't going to give him a chance to power up. He hadn't felt like he was so close to death in such a long time. But this demon…it was truly terrible.

So why? Why was that man with only dual pistols and a sword able to overpower such a creature so easily? Was he some sort of ninja himself? Was it his weapons that made him powerful? Hayate didn't know, however he does know that this black haired fellow is now an important person to keep an eye on. And then there's that name that the gorilla demon yelled out just before Dante killed him. He said "Sparda". But that's impossible. From what Hayate was told a long time ago from his father, the name "Sparda" was only an urban myth. Did his father tell him that as a lie?

So many questions were swarming in his head, and all he really wanted was a nice cup of tea to forget about all of it. He focused on the faint crickets and wildlife take their natural courses in the circle of life in the forest, having no disregard for what could befall them from the evil of this world. Sometimes, even Hayate wished he could live life with no worries or responsibilities…yes. Just as he was while he was still Ein after he lost his memories…When he was with Hitomi and her family.

He wouldn't admit it, but he did miss her very much.

"Hayate-sama. Please excuse me."

"Enter."

The paper door slid open and inside walked in a single black dressed ninja. He took a respectable knee as Hayate struggled to sit up. The ninja then said; "Hayate-sama, it appears our scouters have discovered a strange and dangerous situation within the streets of Tokyo."

"Is it DOATEC?" Hayate asked. Even though he knew DOATEC was under new management, that still didn't mean that there wasn't a rat within the system still.

"No." The ninja shook his head, "It is an unseen force from our eyes. It has a very unsettling feeling to it, and is having a negative effect on the city itself."

Hayate thought it over a bit on what to do. He could go and check it out himself, but he was still recovering from his own wounds. Plus he didn't want to leave Ayane at all. But he also remembered that he was the 18th master of the Mugen Tenshin, and as such he cannot sit by and let this responsibility go untouched.

He slowly got to his feet with small effort, and said; "Alright then. Gather at least four of your men and meet me at the entry way. I will have a look at this "odd feeling" myself."

Hayate walked out of his room with the ninja and closed the door behind him. When the cost was finally clear, from the shadows of the room walked out a single female ninja, still dressed in her night robe. She desperately wanted to go with Hayate the city, but she still had her injuries to worry about. Even so, Ayane couldn't sit still any longer.

"I must go too." Ayane decided as she tied her signature headband around her head with a tight finish. "Kasumi might be there."

_**JAPAN **_

_**TOKYO**_

_**20:44 p.m.**_

Kokoro had seen some strange things in her time; ninjas, warriors, the whole ball game. She assumed that nothing would really surprise her anymore. But it appeared she was mistaken greatly. Now there were all of a sudden humanoid monster faced creatures that bled profusely and had mixed species body parts on them. This was certainly an odd night in the streets of Tokyo. Like something out of a manga or anime. But this time it was real life.

"_This doesn't look too good…!_" She thought as she got into her Ba Ji Quan stance darting her eyes all around her to keep a sharp eye on all her opponents. "_Let's see; they got claws, I have hands. Not good odds. At best I'll last a few hours or so but after that…! No! Gotta stay focused…focused…focused!_"

Suddenly, Kokoro's focus was obliterated by the sound of gun shots going off around her, which instinctively made her cover her head and face from being shot at! She saw the demons around her being riddled with bullets and shrieking in pain! The demons were all reduced to dismembered chunks of bodies piled on the ground around Kokoro, making her feel sick to her stomach to see such a horrid scene of demon corpse.

"You alright?" Said a male voice strolling to her. She looked to see that her rescuer was a black haired foreigner—American to be exact, in a black hooded coat and a long sword on his back. He also had twin guns in his hands that looked odd to her. However he got a good look at his face to find he was indeed a younger man at least a year older than her.

"_Who's this guy now?_" Kokoro thought, "_Is he some sort of hunter?_"

"Yo, schoolgirl I said are you alright?" Dante repeated.

Kokoro snapped back to paying attention and replied in English, "O-Oh yes! I'm fine!"

"Kokoro!"

Kokoro looked behind Dante to see another girl running to them. This girl was dressed in a white dress and glasses. Kokoro instantly recognized her long copper hair and hazel eyes. She instantly smiled and called in Japanese, "Hey! It's you! Hey Ayane-san!-!"

Kasumi almost tripped on her own feet comically but was able to catch herself just in time for her to now be in the presence of Kokoro.

"U-Um, actually it's Kasumi…" Kasumi corrected her in Japanese as well.

"O-Oh right!" Kokoro said bashfully, "I forgot Ayane's your little sister—"

"Kokoro!" Kasumi exclaimed. Kokoro was surprised and confused why she suddenly yelled like that. However, Kasumi slowly eyed Dante, hoping he didn't catch on to that. Dante stood there with a confused expression and looked towards Kasumi.

"What?" Dante asked.

Kasumi sighed a breath of relief. She was lucky Dante couldn't speak Japanese or understand it; otherwise this would have been a troublesome situation in her plans of finding Alpha. "N-Nothing." Kasumi answered as she turned her attention back to Kokoro.

However that didn't stop Dante from suddenly becoming…suspicious himself.

"_Kokoro said "Ayane" didn't she_?" Dante thought. If Dante remembered correctly, Ayane was the name of that other girl from two days ago at that ship in New York. He remembered because that copper haired ninja kept calling out her name. "_Come to think, both that ninja guy and Kasumi here have the same hair color too. Plus their eyes…_" Dante thought as he looked to Kasumi who was talking to Kokoro.

He finally put two and two together. "_Ahh, so that's it._" He thought with a rather maddened face on him. "_So she's—_"

However, the questioning had to wait as they were suddenly surrounded by more of those same monster-infused demons once more! All looking more ravaging then the last batch were.

"They're back!" Kokoro warned.

"No choice then!" Kasumi declared as she removed her glasses and held her wakizashi at the ready. "We'll have to fight our way out of this!"

"Looks like it!" Dante agreed as he pointed his guns at the demons.

All three separated to deal with each of the demons in their view!

Kasumi appeared before one of the demons and quickly stabbed her sword into it viciously. From there she brought it up to cut its torso in two, and proceeded to cut its head off and kick it away from her very stylishly. From behind her she blocked the other incoming claw, and grabbed its arm to cut it across the stomach two times, and sever its arm from its body, letting its blood flow out. Kasumi then threw the clawed arm at the other demon charging at her, and it penetrated through its head brutally. She then stood at the ready as more of those demon faced bastards surrounded her closely. Finally they all charged into her but Kasumi swiftly spun around to catch each of their heads off in an instant! All fell to the ground like dominos before her with their blood painting the ground she stood on. She pulled out three kunai and threw them all at the remaining demons around her as they all fell to the ground. "Taken care of."

Kokoro ran to her group and bowed politely as she said, "Please excuse me for this. Because you're demons, I won't hold back." She then got into her family style stance of Ba Ji Quan and proceeded to attack. One of the demon's claws were about to slam into her, but Kokoro side stepped it, and caught the demon in the gut with a palm strike. She then palm striked its head and another back hand to its head. She finished it by kicking it away from her as it slammed into a fiery wrecked car, burned alive. She stood at the ready as three more appeared to charge at her simultaneously. There was enough time to maneuver. The first came to attack but Kokoro pushed its claw down to strike at its chest and push it away. The second came behind her, but she turned to swat its strike away and do a two hit attack at its chest and face. The next did a stabbing strike to Kokoro from the side, but it barely got her as she turned on the heel out of the way, and losing her glasses in the process. But she was able to get it in the face and break its rib and kick it away from her. "Sorry about that, but those glasses were expensive."

Dante charged at the demons, sword in hand now as he was grinning sadistically. "Time to go off on you bitches!" Dante hacked away at the first one with two hits, then cut at least two more into the air. He jumped up to them and continued swinging away at them in midair, finishing them with a deadly spin that cut them one in half. From there he jumped off the second one and used ebony and ivory to shoot them up with bullets. He then spun while shooting downward, ala "rainstorm" and grabbed rebellion again to slam his sword down with helm breaker. He uppercut the other demons up and grabbed his guns once again to spin upward while shooting, aka "inverse rainstorm." From there he jumped off one of the closest demons in the air and finished them all instantly with a single helm breaker to the ground. And finally for the last few, Dante lunged swiftly and let loose a blind furry of lightning fast stabs known as trillion stab to finish off the last ones in an instant. Dante smirked as he put rebellion on his back and said "Sayonara."

The three looked around to see if anything else would appear before them in this insanely shifted world of a city. It seemed all was as calm as Limbo could possibly get as the three regrouped once more.

"Okay…We've dealt with the lower grunts." Kasumi said, "Now how do we escape from this Limbo? Dante, do you know?"

Kokoro quickly looked towards Kasumi with a surprised expression. "Dante…?" Kokoro muttered. Kokoro turned back to Dante with questioning eyes hungry for answers.

"With me, I just kill the biggest demon here, and I'm outta here." Dante shrugged towards Kasumi, "So we just gotta find the brains of all this."

"Dante…where have I heard that name before?" Kokoro pondered to herself. She swore the name was familiar but how? What about that name poked at her interest?

"Okay then. We'll just have to search the area for this higher level demon in order to proceed out of this realm." Kasumi confirmed.

"Too late...I think it's coming to us." Dante warned.

Kasumi wondered what he meant, but soon she felt it as well as Kokoro. There was a faint rumbling in the air and the red clouds shifting into a circle over the open area where the three stood. Finally the rumbling increased greatly as the very ground started to break apart from under them.

"Move!" Dante yelled. He quickly picked Kokoro bridal style and jumped out of the way along with Kasumi as the ground broke apart and created a deep crater of a hole that seemed to lead straight to the core of the Earth! Fire fumed from its inner hole and out of it rose a fiery creature that shrieked a terrible, horrid, and ungodly roar!

"What is that?-!" Kokoro called to Dante, who put her down.

"Good question!" Dante called back.

The beast poked its wings out from its back as hot lava oozed from them. It forced both its long arms and sharp legs from the ground and seemed to breathe in a deep gulp of breath, before letting all out in an echoing, city shattering roar that indeed shattered the windows of all the buildings as well as make the hole in the ground close up instantly. This roar also blasted the fire off of itself and revealed to be darkened dragon like demon. Its snout was like that off the smaller demons but its fangs were longer for able biting. Its claws were sharp and blade-like with his feet mimicking this same fashion. Its wings were wide and deadly with small cuts to them, and its eyes were a piercing red along with its horns as well.

"Dante! It's another one of those larger demons! Like the one on the ship!" Kasumi called as she regrouped with the two.

"No shit, Kasumi!" Dante yelled back!

The dragon turned to Dante's location and yelled out; **"KOKOROOO!-!-!"**

Its very roar was a powerful gust that blew at both of them. Kokoro could honestly say that she feared for her life and was trembling greatly in the presence of this beast calling her name.

"W-Why does it want me?-!" Kokoro desperately asked Dante.

"Who knows, but it ain't gonna last long!" Dante grinned as he grabbed rebellion again. "Let's see if I can make Godzilla here go back to his fiery ocean!"

Dante charged at the giant beast and jumped high into the air to cut it down, but the dragon's eyes glowed and out of nowhere, something lightning fast slammed into Dante, sending him across the air and into the ground brutally with his body rolling across the ground before coming to a hard stop into the debris of the wreckage!

"Dante!" Kasumi called with worry. Dante was more than able to break out of the rubble and stand back up again. However, at a heavy risk of his clothes having a few rips and his coat completely ripped to shreds from the left sleeve missing to the tails of the coat ripped to the waist; plus hood ripped off as well.

"Fuckin' dragon!" Dante yelled angrily as he just took off the remains of his coat. "That was my favorite coat too!-!"

Kasumi was relieved he was still alive, but was now curious as to what had slammed Dante down like that. It was too fast to see clearly but from the hazy trail it left after it hit Dante, it seemed to be something made of fire and appeared near the dragon's eyes. She needed to see more in order to truly confirm her suspicions.

"Savin' girls, fightin' dragons; guess I really am a knight!" Dante smirked as he ran at the dragon with furious speed just as the dragon's large claws slammed into the ground! Luckily Dante was able to jump out of the way and run up the dragons arm. He reached its bicep before the dragon's other arm brushed through and almost hit Dante. Dante however, was able to slide on his knees and narrowly dodge the swiping dragon arm along with slicing the dragon's fingers off while sliding through! The dragon wailed painfully at the loss of his fingers.

Kasumi noticed this and also noticed that it didn't grow its limbs back like the last demon did. So it can be assumed that this demon was simple minded, unable to heal, and wild. Good. This was just the kind of info on it she was looking for, however, how to defeat it is a different analysis.

Dante took the chance to get on his feet again, and continued running to the shoulder. The dragon ignored the pain, and stared to Dante with glowing yellow eyes, and all of a sudden, another blast was shot right at Dante!

"No you don't!" Dante proclaimed, and just in time, he blocked the hard-hitting attack with his sword in an epic struggle for dominance! Now that it was stopped in its tracks, Kasumi and Kokoro could clearly see what was it that shot at Dante the first time; it was indeed a spinning fire ball that burned furiously!

"So that's what it was!" Kasumi confirmed. "A lightning quick fire ball!"

"Kasumi-san, look!" Kokoro pointed at the dragon. Kasumi looked and noticed it as well. It seemed the dragon was staring heavily at Dante with those glowing eyes. They didn't leave Dante for a second as that same fire ball got stronger by the looks of Dante putting more effort to stay in control!

"His eyes! I think that overgrown lizard can only do those fire balls as long as he stares at Dante-san!" Kokoro noted.

"So its eyes are the issue here." Kasumi said to herself before calling out, "Dante! Its eyes! Aim for its eyes!-!"

"Got it!" Dante called back. With all his might, Dante stood firmly, and was starting to push it off! "Don't blink!"

Finally, Dante swung with his sword, and sent the fiery sphere back at the dragon with even more speed then the dragon sent it! The fireball shot right into its eye with a fiery explosion and incapacitated its right eye, making the giant dragon shriek in absolute pain! The dragon moved so much that Dante had no choice but to jump off it and land back on the ground. When the dragon removed his clawed hands from its eye, it was closed shut and bleeding heavily with intense burns around it, however this didn't stop its rampage in destroying the city, and taking Kokoro!

"Yo, Kasumi!" Dante called running back to her and Kokoro. "Why'd you say go for its eye?"

"Because its eyes are the reason for those fire balls." Kasumi answered looking up at the dragon, "Apparently the fireballs are controlled by its eyes. As long as it stares at you, then those fiery shots will continue to attack you." Kasumi pointed to the dragon's face. "You took out one of its eyes. Now all that's left is the second eye." Kasumi took out kunai with small seal papers on the ends of them, each one in-between her fingers. "I'll take that one. You create a distraction for me."

"Leave it to me." Dante winked with a smile.

"Wait! I wanna come too!" Kokoro offered up. Both Dante and Kasumi looked back at Kokoro with surprised expressions. They knew Kokoro was though but for her to help them fight a giant dragon was a bit too much. "It's me it wants, right? So obviously I should be the one who makes the distraction!"

Kasumi wasn't too up for that plan. Putting Kokoro in danger like that would be too dangerous, and would also be against her honor in letting an innocent girl put herself in such a situation such as this. Dante also wasn't sold on the idea of letting a girl like her be the distraction to a giant dragon demon. He wanted to get Kasumi's opinion.

"Whaddya think?" Dante asked, leaning rebellion on his shoulder.

Kasumi sighed. She knew that this would be a good plan to use, but to put Kokoro at risk? Well this was a situation that needed to be solved quickly, so why not? She knew she'd hate herself in the morning for this…if they live through this that is. "Okay then… Dante, make sure Kokoro is safe."

"Okay. But I think I got a way so she doesn't get smacked by those balls of fury." Dante grinned. Kasumi knew that it was going to be something odd. She could feel it.

Dante then stuck his sword into the ground and kneeled down with his hands behind him. "Get on."

Kokoro was a bit taken back at if he was joking or not. Did he really expect her to jump on his back like that? "Y-You want me to…jump on your back?" Kokoro blushed.

"Naw, I want you to jump over it." Dante remarked. "Now get on already."

Kokoro was hesitant at first. What girl wouldn't be? This was the first time she's actually been so close to a guy before. And to make matters more difficult, he was in a tank top. His biceps and broad shoulders were showing. She felt her whole body gain goosebumps, and her face heat up fast. Even so, she knew that doing this was important and couldn't afford to let her dirty thoughts cloud her objective. She bent down and wrapped her arms around Dante's neck. She had her breast tightly pushed onto his back, which was making her blush even more and strangely enough…was making her hot as well. She had never been touched or be so close to a guy like this. In fact the last time she's ever been so close to a guy was back when she—

"Alright then!" Dante said as he grabbed Kokoro's thighs, "Let's give 'em a show!"

"H-Hey! Watch where you're grab-iiinngggg!-!-!" Kokoro echoed as Dante jumped off the ground and was now wall jumping up to the tallest building standing right now, and low and behold, that building was the same one that had the TV screen on it. They finally appeared to the top of the building, where Kokoro was set down by Dante.

Kasumi ran to position and had her kunai at the ready.

"So, you good at shit talkin'?" Dante had to ask as he put rebellion on his back again.

"W-What?"

"Y'know. Talk shit to an enemy?"

"Um…I don't think I've ever really insulted an opponent." Kokoro meekly said. She's never had the experience of really insulting an opponent. She was always taught respect by her mother and her martial art. Any smack talk was beaten out of her with intense training, and a stern mother.

"You've got much to learn." Dante demonstrated, "For example, look at its eye. It's dead. Then look at its dragon body. Like some board game crap that nerds play in a basement."

"Hey, that's pretty mean to say about the nerds." Kokoro huffed.

"Please that name's been popularized as cool now." Dante said, "They won't mind. Anyway, try to mix all that together."

"O-Okay…" Kokoro breathed in deep, and let out with a loud voice; "HEY, DEAD EYE! WHY DON'T YOU GO BACK TO THE BASMENT DUNGEONS AND DRAGON'S PIT YOU CAME FROM!-!"

"YEAH! SUCK IT, ELLIOT!-!"

"Eliot?" Kokoro questioned since she knew an Eliot from DOA.

"The stupid dragon from the Disney movie." Dante sighed.

The dragon definitely got wind of the "stupid dragon" insult! Even though it had no idea what dungeons and dragons were, it could definitely tell that they were insulting it! The dragon turned to them and roared its earth shattering roar at them! They waited till it was done with its roar and it shut its mouth to stare at them. Its eyes glowed and that was the time to strike!

"Kasumi now!-!" Dante called.

Just as a meteor ball came shooting at them, Dante grabbed Kokoro by the waist and jumped out of the way of the crashing fireball to strike the rooftop! From the side of the dragon's view, Kasumi suddenly appeared in sakura pedals high into the air, and let loose her kunai knives right into the dragon's eye! Before the dragon could notice the kunai and yell out in pain, Kasumi preformed ninjitsu hand signs before ending it with a palm open to the beast. "Mugen Tenshin Ryu; fire art; _Taiyo_!"

In an instant, the kunai exploded into a fiery explosion right within the dragon's eye! It once again, roared a trembling roar that shaked the entire city. Its arms swung all around and its feet stomping the ground violently as it no longer could see it's pray anymore! Kasumi landed on top of one of the buildings where Dante also put Kokoro, while Dante was on the street, sword in hand.

"Dante! Finish it!" Kasumi yelled.

"Hell yeah!" Dante grinned.

The dragon may not have seen anything, but it could certainly hear and smell the person who's been a big pain in his ass this whole time. It didn't even care about the girl he was after before. All he wanted was to hear the bleeding cry of death wherever it went. And so what better place to start then the single male who has caused it the suffering its going through. The black haired man must die. The dragon breathed in deeply and seemed as though it was getting ready to blow something out of its mouth. It's body started to glow from toe to legs slowly.

"Oh no! Dante-san!" Kokoro called gravely.

"Dante, it's gonna breath fire! Get out of there!-!" Kasumi yelled out.

But Dante didn't listen. He wanted to finish this here and now. But there was one problem;

"Okay…Now how do I end this?" He had to think quickly on how to kill this beast. But he didn't really have much of a powerful attack to end it with that he could think of. So he decided on something with a sardonic smirk on his face. "I _am _in Japan. And this is also the place where a favorite show of mine does these kind of attacks…why the hell not?"

Dante reverse gripped his sword and brought it back, holding it for a bit. Suddenly, a powerful aura gathered around rebellion and became an orange-like power that grew in tensely on his blade before becoming a pure red fiery aura on his blade. The very aura made the dust on the ground around him become a spiral circling him and he could feel all his energy pulsate in rebellion.

The dragon finally glowed completely and let loose its scorching fire that was hurdling towards Dante!

"DANTE!-!" Kasumi called!

"Take this, you giant bitch!-!"

Dante let lose his sword and swung it once, releasing a giant shockwave of aura and fire so powerful and deadly, that it completely sliced through the blazing fire like a knife through butter, and was soaring right to the dragon with blinding speed! Finally the sonic blast had soared right through the dragon's body and completely vanished the second it past it.

The dragon stood perfectly still as its fire depleted from his mouth…It then started to fall one way, but the other side of its body fell another. Soon, the dragon completely split into two, and fell slowly fell to both sides of the city! As it landed, it created a very heavy shockwave that destroyed a few of the building to millions of pieces around it!

As the dust finally cleared, and the damaged and broken city was viewable again, Dante stood, quite cocky as he spun his sword in his hand, and placed it on his back once more. "There goes the dragon…"

"Dante!"

Dante turned to see Kasumi and Kokoro running to him to make sure he was okay.

"…And here comes my princesses." Dante smirked.

"Y-You did it!" Kokoro cheered, "You beat the dragon thing!"

"Thank goodness that's all over." Kasumi sighed of relief. "What was that attack you just did?"

"I got it from a show I use to watch on TV." Dante said, "Forgot the name, but it had somethin' to do with an orange haired kid, and him bein' some death god or some shit. Anyway, I thought about his attack and did it."

"So, what's it called?" Kokoro asked curiously.

"I got the perfect name." Dante grinned, "I'll call it…Drive. Has a nice ring to it, don't ya think?"

Kasumi thought the name seemed…out of place. It's not like he was driving anything, but she decided not to question.

However, Kokoro thought something else. It had nothing to do with the name, but better yet, with what he had just said. That last part of his sentence. _Has a nice ring to it._ For some reason, she couldn't help but remember that same saying being said to her once before…in fact, it wasn't even from an adult voice…it was a little boy's voice. A cocky voice at that.

Then it finally hit her! That voice! It was from a young boy's voice that said that. But could it be? Could that young boy's voice belong to…? It couldn't be…could it? The hair, the skin…that necklace…! There was no doubt in her mind! It was him! It was really him!

"What do ya think, school girl?" Dante asked, "Sounds cool to—?"

"DAN-CHAN!-!"

Suddenly, Dante felt something heavy cling on to him that caused him to lose his footing and fall right on his back to the ground! Dante felt his back ache but that pain was replaced by the feeling of something soft pushing on to his chest hard and his neck being…hugged by arms? He opened his eyes again to see that the school girl he and Kasumi saved was now on top of him, hugging him tightly while squealing as if she was a fan girl to a boy band!

"Dan-chan!-!~ Is it really you?-! Oh, it's been ages since I last saw you!-!" Kokoro said jubilantly and full of joy while cuddling him like a child to her father.

"W-Wait a second! Hold on a sec…on second thought, don't stop." Dante grinned. He might as well enjoy the moment of a hot girl mashing her breast to his chest and her practically straddling him.

"Would you stop with your perverted thoughts!" Kasumi exclaimed while her face was red. She picked off Kokoro from Dante, allowing him to stand once again while rubbing his head in pain. Plus he landed on his sword and that's not exactly a good feeling.

"I-I'm sorry! I didn't mean to tackle you!" Kokoro apologized.

"S'alright." Dante smiled, while snapping his neck a bit. "I kinda liked that rough stuff."

"But still…" Kokoro said curiously as she walked to Dante to get a closer look. "You look so different from when we were kids. But your hair and eyes; definitely the same. Even down to the necklace."

Dante cocked an eyebrow at what Kokoro was nothing about him. It was as if they had met before, but he doesn't even remember where. Better yet, he didn't even know who this girl actually was before tonight. So why would she say that they met. "Wait. You said when we were kids?"

"Yeah." Kokoro nodded. "Back when we were kids. Don't you remember?"

"Dante, you know Kokoro?" Kasumi asked curiously.

"uhhh…"

Before Dante could answer that question, he noticed that his sword vanished, and the dragon's body had already vanished from sight. The clouds of a deep red turned back to the normal dark skies once more. The city reformed itself back into its proper place and was back to being it's human world counterpart. However the buildings and wreckage that came from the fight were still very much kept in place. The streets were destroyed or pulled up and there was fire all around the area that was slowly dying down from the slowly building rain to come.

"We're back." Kasumi confirmed.

Suddenly, all three of them could hear the sirens coming closer to the scene from the distance. They definitely couldn't stay there, not with all the destruction around there.

"Shit!" Dante hissed. "Cops! Let's get outta here!"

And so they did, into an old alleyway, just as the cops and fire trucks pulled up to the scene...

_**UNKNOWN LOCATION **_

_**DONOVAN'S LABORATORY**_

_**2:37 a.m.**_

Though Donovan had stayed up the entire night, and was feeling exhausted, he knew it was worth it. Not even his seventh cup of coffee could help him stay awake, and he was just about to drift to sleep. However, that was knocked out of him as the beeping of the heavens caught his attention to stay awake. And low and behold…he found him. He found Dante once again, and got a good sight of him in action. Using one of his flying camera bots, he was able to see him fight, and even got to see a new attack from him. Remarkable. Truly remarkable. This was just what he wanted.

"Yes…He is showing promise." Donovan smiled. "But now is not the time…soon, you little fool…Soon you will come to me…" He smiled in a hysterical manner as his plans were ever so close to complete. "…soon…! Alpha will rise again!"

His echoing laugh filled the entire room as his calm sanity was slowly leaving him...

_**UNKNOWN LOCATION **_

_**2:46 a.m.**_

He stared at his large computer screen with a worried stare. Though he kept poised in the face of such events occurring before him, he had to keep himself calm. A distracted mind is a terrible mind to use in this situation. He needed to stay focused this time around. He couldn't afford to lose to Donovan anymore. He needed to be patient. Wait for Donovan to make the first move. Just as a game of chess, he must wait for his turn.

"Sooner or later, you will make your move, Donovan…" The man said with a cold expression, "…And when you do…I _WILL _destroy your king's piece…with the very knight you desperately desire."


	8. 8: Looming Darkness

**Hey everyone! Alito here! Glad to be back here for this fanfic. I really am learning a lot about DOA, and have a few favorite characters. (Mila, Kokoro, Hitomi, Ayane, and others) I can't wait to use other characters in my fanfic to show up. Also, for anyone who hasn't read it, you should really check out the fanfic that started this one; DOA4: Devil Factor. Trust, me it's great. I just hope I could recreate that magic in my own fanfic here.**

**Anyway, here we go!**

***DISCLAIMER* I own nothing.**

**Chapter 8: Looming Darkness**

* * *

_**JAPAN **_

_**TOKYO**_

_**21:01 p.m.**_

By the time Hayate and his fellow ninja's arrived on the scene of pure destruction and disaster, it was already too late for them to take any action or even excavate the area. Police officers and private investigators were already there to check out the damage that was done to the city. The fire department was also present in taking out the large fire that was rampant on the debris along with saving some who might have taken cover in all the destruction but were still injured. The ambulance was also present to more than anything take away the bodies that were caught in the destruction and place them in body bags.

Hayate was lucky that he has seen much bloodshed and death as a ninja to be able to stomach such a horrid scene such as this, but even so, it tugged at his own chest that he couldn't have done something to better protect the city and the people who lost their lives from something that had nothing to do with them. It was sickening that a damned creature or dark entity could decimate cities while he had no ability to stop it even if he was there.

"Hayate-sama."

Hayate turned to see that another ninja has landed on the rooftop that still stood far away from the scene. Hayate wasn't in the mood to hear anything as of now, but he knew that as the leader, he had to hear everything out once. "What is it?" He said quite bitterly for obvious reasons.

"W-Well while doing small investigating, I happened to find this blowing in the wind to me." The ninja presented it to Hayate, who took it and examined it thoroughly. It appeared to be a faded black leather coat that was ripped beyond repair. One sleeve was missing and the coat's tails were missing as well. It might as well have been thrown away in its condition.

"Wait a minute…! I've seen this before…" Hayate muttered. He remembered it being the same coat that the black haired hunter wore when disposed of the gorilla demon on the boat! No doubt that he's been here and probably took care of the demonic issue going on here. At least Hayate was a little content knowing that he was here to protect Tokyo.

"We have no reason to be here anymore." Hayate ordered. "Let us return to the village."

"But sir, what of Hayabusa-sama?" A ninja asked.

"Don't worry. He can take care of himself." Hayate answered. "Now let return to our village. There is much to discuss."

The ninja troops nodded with a "hai!" and they all vanished in black feathers so swiftly that you could miss them with a blink of an eye.

Meanwhile near the actual scene—still out of sight from any authority, Ayane dressed in her ninja attire, wasn't going back home until she had proper confirmation of what she was hoping to see. She looked around and was trying to find even the most smallest of clues or evidence that would at least prove that Kasumi was here. However that was difficult to do when you have police, and K-9 dogs snooping around.

Then Ayane looked towards a single police officer and noticed that he had in his hand a pair of glasses. The glasses seemed chipped a bit and were damaged on the lens. Ayane had a gut feeling that those glasses were just the thing she needed to prove that her older sister was indeed at this scene. Ayane pulled from her belt, a small bamboo stick and from a pouch, he pulled out a small dart. She placed it in the bamboo stick and blew on the opposite side, sending the dart right into the police officer's neck. The police man himself felt a terrible sting and pulled the dart out, but it was too late for him to rationalize what had just happened as he finally fell unconscious.

Ayane was lucky this police man sterned so far from the rest of them as she quickly sneaked from cover, to grab the glasses from the unconscious Japanese police man. She looked at them closely and examined them with a keen eye.

Bingo. She found what she needed. In scripted on the glasses on the side of one of its arms;

"_Property of Kokoro._"

_**JAPAN **_

_**TOKYO**_

_**Sachiko vending station**_

_**21:03 p.m.**_

The police cars were zooming by with their red and blue lights shining brightly and blowing its sirens for people in the way to move quickly. This certainly wasn't any kind of regular event if police would zoom by with almost no disregard to if they hit someone or not. Who wouldn't? When your city's been almost destroyed in a single large area, you can't help but want to know what happened.

Either way, the three main suspects were more than able to escape the dangers of the law by sitting with-in the shack of the vending machine station and sitting at one of the tables provided. Kasumi and Kokoro were drinking green tea in cans, while Dante got a strawberry flavored soda to guzzle down.

"Glad we got outta there." Dante commented. "Hate the fuckin' feds."

"We were lucky that Limbo is a masking veil to the normal human eye. Otherwise, we would have been discovered." Kasumi relieved.

"Yep! It all worked out in the end!" Kokoro cheered as she wrapped her arm around Dante's arm. "After all, I found Dan-chan, and we can be friends again just like old times!"

"Yeeeah, about that…" Dante mentioned as he slowly shrugged Kokoro off of his arm, "Why do you keep callin' me that? I don't even know who you really are."

"I'm curious about this as well." Kasumi inquired, "How exactly do you and Dante know each other?"

"We were good friends a long time ago. Like when we were six years old." Kokoro looked towards Dante with a perplexed expression. "Y-You really don't remember me?"

"No offense, but no, I don't." Dante shrugged, "If anything, you're just some girl that Helena told us to protect."

"Helena?" Kokoro remembered that name all too well. It was the name of that French woman on the wide screen who was in the last DOA tournament. "She told you to come here…? But why…?"

"Why? It's cause she's—"

Dante was cut-off at the clearing of the ginger haired konoichi and she continued from there. "Dante, I think the real question we should be asking is why you don't remember Kokoro, right?"

Kasumi admitted in her mind that it was rude to bring back such a sensitive topic, knowing how Kokoro's temper can be. In the last DOA tournament when she was losing, she got really intense and easier to anger, so who knows what this would do to her. Plus getting off the topic of revealing that Helena was her half sister would be too overwhelming for Kokoro to handle.

"Oh yeah, that's right!' Kokoro remembered looking back at Dante with pleading, puppy dog eyes, "Nothing else could have brought you here to see me?" She was hoping for an answer that would be sufficient to the remembrance of such old friends who hadn't seen each other in such a long time….she didn't get it.

"Nope. Helena pretty much forced me to come here." Dante lazily said while sitting back, "Not that I fought it. I thought a good vacation was needed from the constant crap I gotta deal with. A change in scenery, Y'know." He looked the way to where the police cars went. "But judgin' by the attack with that giant dragon, my new scenery's lookin' pretty familiar. I can tell that whatever's after you will be back with some buddies for more—"

"Uh, Dante?" Kasumi halted. Dante raised an eye brow to her, as she pointed to Kokoro silently.

Dante looked back at Kokoro to find that her face had scrutinized into an expression of both annoyance, and anger rising to the boiling point. Dante cocked an eyebrow in confusion as to why she appeared so furious all of a sudden.

"So that's how it is? You don't even remember me at all?" Kokoro exasperated bitterly, "After all these years! So long we haven't seen each other and you forget all about me?-! And what's worse…! Back then, you promised that…! That you'd…!"

Dante knew that he had made a horrible choice of words and knew right then and there he was going to regret them. If this goes on, he knew he was in for trouble.

"Look, I—"

"No! Forget it!" She shot back with her arms crossed, and turning her back on Dante. "If that's how you want to be, then fine! Don't even bother protecting me since that's the only reason you came here!" She stepped out of her fallen chair, giving one last furious glare at Dante. "I can take care of myself, thank _you_ very much!"

"Kokoro…!" Kasumi tried to reason with her, but was suddenly halted by Dante's sudden outburst of jumping from his chair.

"Like hell you could!"Dante started, "These demons aren't somethin' you could just take out by yourself!" He jabbed a finger at Kokoro sternly, "They'll kill you without an effort! Face it! You'll never survive on your own now!"

Kokoro looked over her shoulder with a stink eye at Dante. "I've done it before, and I'll do it again!"

"Oh yeah? When did you ever deal with stuff like this?-!"

"In case you hadn't guessed; I was a participant in the DOA tournament!" Kokoro said quite pompously, "I've fought people way stronger than those smaller ones."

"Yeah, smaller ones. Not the "_Skyrim in real life_" mother fucker we put down!" Dante pointed out.

Kokoro was having it up to here with that mouth of his. All he seemed to do was say one cuss word to the next. It was annoying her and she really didn't enjoy cussing to begin with. She turned back at the black haired male and said sternly, "Oh, and another thing; stop saying so many curse words! It makes you sound like a stupid gaijin more then you dress."

"The hell was that?-!" Dante shot. "I've seen "_Tokyo Drift_"! I know what you just called me!"

"Guys!" Both looked back at Kasumi with annoyance in their glares at the ginger. "I really don't think we should be talking about a topic such as demons here…"

Dante and Kokoro stopped arguing to look around their surroundings and seeing bystanders and passerbys mumbling to each other in a gossip manner and keeping eye contact away from the scene.

"See your point." Dante agreed, "We shouldn't stay here too long. Cops are gonna be all over the place tonight. We gotta vanish, fast."

"But where?" Kasumi asked, "Helena didn't exactly set up any living arrangements for us."

Kokoro noticed the two having a problem of where they would sleep and wished she could do something to help. Even though she was still mad at Dante, she didn't want him to sleep on the streets. And she definitely didn't want Kasumi on the streets either. But what was she to do about that?

Suddenly, she had an idea that could work. But after thinking it, she couldn't help but think that this Helena woman didn't give them sleeping arrangements on purpose. In fact, Kokoro was certain she knew why she would intentionally not have hotels paid for. After all her mother was an important person on her own, so she wasn't too surprised.

She let out a deep sigh with her hands on her hips, and said; "I see how it is…Anyway, I guess you guys are coming with me."

"Really?" Kasumi said standing up. "Do you think Miyako-san will allow it?"

Kokoro shrugged her shoulders. "I really don't know. Okaa-san's been really on edge these past few days, so I'll have to call and ask first."

"Okaasan?" Dante pronounced wrong, "What's that?"

"It means "mother". Kokoro's mother." Kasumi answered, while watching Kokoro dial her mother's number on her cell.

"Oh, that makes sense." Dante figured. As Kokoro was dialing on her phone for her mother's number and waiting for her to answer, Dante pulled Kasumi aside to talk to her in private as Kokoro had her back turned.

"So what was up with stopping me from saying she's Helena's sister?" Dante questioned.

"Kokoro doesn't know that Helena is her half sister." Kasumi answered, "That's not supposed to be told to her yet. Not until Helena tells her herself. It's a family issue."

"More like a dysfunctional family issue." Dante sighed, seeing Kokoro speaking Japanese into the phone. "I'd hate to have to deal with a dysfunctional sibling…"

"Yeah…hope you don't." Kasumi mumbled. She knew that Dante had his own dysfunctional family as well, but knew that had to be kept a secret. Now was not the time to tell everything.

"Speaking of dysfunctional families…" Dante remembered, "Let's talk about yours."

"Um…Okay?" Kasumi said with unsure reason as to why she said okay.

"That Kokoro girl over there said something about "Ayane". Ayane was the name of the purple haired ninja girl that was gettin' fucked up by that demon." Dante said, crossing his arms, "Not only that, but that guy had ginger hair just like yours and the same eyes too."

Kasumi mentally cursed herself for not over-looking the possibility that Dante had met her brother and half sister before, and didn't even try to come up with a lie about them or try and change her hair color at least.

"So, what's up with that?" Dante interrogated, "Who's this Ayane chick, and what's that ginger haired Ninja got to do with you? Your brother, maybe? And what about Alpha? Is she really your sister?"

"W-Well—"

"Okay. She said yes. You guys can stay in the private suites of our home." Kokoro intervened so suddenly. Kasumi grabbed this opportunity quickly and tried to change the subject. "A-Ah yes. Of course. We should be really going right now, right Dante?"

Dante knew she was dodging the question, and was lucky that Kokoro intervened when she did, otherwise things _would _get explained one way or another. But he also had to take into consideration of the feds that were slowly filling the streets every few seconds a siren swooped by. They really couldn't waste time sitting around now.

"Yeah, fine. But this ain't done." Dante warned.

Kokoro was confused as to what Dante meant by that, while Kasumi had a troubled expression on her face.

"Lead the way, school girl." Dante ordered.

"Right…but…"

"But—what?"

"Um…can you call me…Koko-chan instead?" Kokoro asked bashfully with blush on her cheeks.

"Seriously?" Dante sighed. He really didn't have time for this girl's teenage love affair. "Alright, fine. Koko-chan, please take us to your house."

"Sure thing!" Kokoro said more chipper as she lead the way to the train station that would take her to her home.

"_H-He said it! He said my nickname!_" Kokoro said cheerfully in her thoughts, "_Maybe if I can keep bringing up small things, I might be able to get him to remember me, and our time together. And what better way than a trip back home...wait…Dante and me are older now, so…I-I'm actually taking a guy my age with me into my house?-!_" Kokoro tried to clear her head of anymore, before she starts to have dirty thoughts clouding her head.

"Oh yeah, sorry about that coat of yours." Kasumi remembered.

"Naw, it wasn't anything." Dante smirked, "Just somethin' a lady friend gave me a while back."

"A lady friend?" Kasumi wondered, "What lady friend?"

"I don't remember her name, but I do remember her bein' an animal in the sack…then she started pullin' guns on me." Dante sighed.

"Guns…?" Kasumi wondered. "That's strange. What woman pulls guns on people she's slept with…?"

_**JAPAN **_

_**Tokyo Sea**_

_**21:30 p.m.**_

"Ugh…! Are we there yet…?"

"I swear, if you ask me that one more time…!"

"I can't help it…! I-I get really sea-sick…! Oh God, I think I feel another one coming on…!"

"For goodness sake, Mila. Go into the bathroom with that."

"R-Right…!"

Mila ran straight for the bathroom and shut the door behind her while Helena sat on the couch, studying more on Sparda on her laptop. It's been so long that Helena's actually had time to read anything and relax like this. Even so, she still couldn't possibly relax with all the worrying she had on her mind. Was her sister okay? What's Christie plotting? Why is this Sparda involved? And why, oh why did she decide to take this red haired girl with her if she's going to be in the bathroom vomiting all day from her sea sickness?

Helena tried her best to drown out Mila's result of sea sickness, and focused on reading the last few excerpts of Sparda's past;

_"—but Sparda did something unholy of the greatest kind and would forever alter the Earth for all eternity; he ran away with a beautiful angel, named Eva. The Angels and Demons have been at war for 1000 of years, and such a bond was considered the highest of taboos in the realms._

_As such, after thousands of years of running, Sparda and Eva were forced to hide within the human world, where they lived a happy secretive from demons, angels, and also humans."_

_"**NOTICE; WE WILL BE REACHING TOKYO DOCKS IN LESS THEN TWELVE SECONDS. PLEASE TAKE ALL THAT YOU INTEND TO TAKE OUT OF THE SHIP AND HAVE A NICE DAY."**_

"Maudit. I guess this will have to wait…" Helena muttered in French. She closed her page and her laptop and put it in her bag in order to depart from the sub. Mila stepped out of the bathroom, just as the ship stopped moving, and her stomach stopped hurting so much.

"Ah, much better…" Mila sighed with relief.

"Yes, yes; all comfortable now. Can we please get going now?" Helena irritably asked.

"O-Oh yeah! Sure!" Mila said meekly.

Helena climbed up that latter to the top of the submarine and opened the hatch. In an instant, the aroma of the fresh sea, and night time breeze filled the sub. Helena plucked herself from inside and stood on the roof of the ship; gazing at the bright city of Tokyo in the horizon. She felt a sense of accomplishment that she was able to endure so much waiting and mind-numbing Spanish from Mila's Spanish soap operas she watched all day and night.

"Wow!" Mila awed in amazement at the large bright city ahead. "So that's Tokyo…its beautiful!"

"Quite. But this is not a vacation time." Helena made clear as she jumped from the roof of the sub, onto the docks. "We're here to find someone very important."

"Oh yeah. You told me on our way here." Mila remembered, stepping off the roof as well. "You said that you wanted to talk to this "Miyako" girl, right?"

"Precisely. She lives within Kyoto, but allows Kokoro to attend a school in Tokyo on account of her school being within the city." Helena explained, "I enrolled Dante and Kasumi there to make sure those demons don't attack her. Especially one demoness that I am certain is after her."

"You don't by any chance mean me, do you? ~"

Helena grew goosebumps along with a cold spine tingling feeling as she quickly turned along with Mila to gaze upon a single silhouetted woman standing before the full moon, casting her dark shadow over the docks themselves. Helena could see the twisted, dark smile she was wearing and her piercing death eyes shooting right at her behind those black shades.

The silhouetted woman leaped from the rooftop of the building and somersaulted within the air, only to land right on her feet with no issue at all. She finally strolled out of the shadow of the building and revealed herself to the ones she had in her sights. She was dressed in a darkened white cat suite with red lining on the right leg and left arm, and the zipper down to her belly button, revealing a bit of her voluptuous cleavage; Her snow white short hair dancing lightly in the breeze like snow.

"How rude. And here I thought we were friends." The woman said mockingly. She removed her shades to let her grey sharp eyes get a gander at the blond princess of DOATEC's castle, and a new face whom she didn't pay as much mind of.

"Damn you…!" Helena growled, "What the hell are you doing here, Christie?"

"Nothing much. I'm just here to take in the sights of Japan and all it has to offer." Christie grinned, "After all, I hear it can get pretty…wild in this city." Her grin became more sinister and her eyes seemed to glow an eerie grey in the moonlight behind her. "The type of wild that just tickles me all over."

"Enough games!" Helena demanded angrily, startling Mila in the process. "You stole my only picture of Kokoro from my computer. What are you planning to do to her?"

"Now why would you go and assume I'm up to something?" the white haired woman questioned. She then pulled from her pocket, a small photograph of Kokoro, posing for a nice picture in the sunlight. "Maybe I just think she's just so bloody cute… Just like her sister."

Helena had had enough of Christie and her shitty riddling words. She had all she could stand from this woman with calmness and integrity, and she could not stand no more to it. She removed her bag and threw it to the side, not even caring how the laptop inside was. Helena slowly dove into her Pi Gua Quan stance and prepared to fight all out. "I will not sit by and be made a fool of by the likes of you!" Helena declared, "We will settle this here and now!"

Mila looked at helena with amazement at how her true strength was showing itself all of a sudden. It was as if Mila could feel the fire in her soul burning into the atmosphere, creating tension in the air. She knew that this was something Helena wanted to do alone, and simply stood back from the great battle about to occur.

"Oh I've been waiting to hear those words." Christie grinned in a very exsited and twisted way, as she slipped the picture down her cat suit. She then bent her knees and straightened her hands to make them out as if she would stab with her fingertips. She stood in the stance of She Quan and prepared to battle. "I'm going to enjoy seeing you cry again. Just as you did with your mother."

"Your words will not disharden your death, bitch." Helena hissed.

The two slowly inched their way to each other, keeping their eyes and strances in check, watching the other's movements carefully and thouroughly. Helena had more to worry about, considering that not only is Christie's style is just as dangerous as hers, but also Christie's underhanded cheat tactics to help her win.

And that was just what Christie had in mind as she ran in first!

Christie made a single jab, but Helena was able to splap it out of her way. Christie then crossed to jab at her again, but Helena was able to catch that as well. With quicklness, Helena whirled her hands around like a whirlwind to open Christie's arms and take a double fisted punch to Christie's abdomin. However Christie recovered from the disarming and jabbed her hands into Helena's to make them fall to the side. Christie was the first to connect as she did two jabs at her torso, and a final strike at her stomach, thus pushing her back a bit!

Helena was able to recover her stance and relax her body to reduce pulling anything. Christie charged in again and commenced on jabbing Helena with long ranged strikes, but helena was more then able to dodge and block her assults, all while putting in her own smaller punches.

_"The She Quan. I most formitable martial art_." Helena thought, "_It focuses on long range strikes coupled with low attacking. Its speed is moderate but its attack power is dangerous. However, it it has terrible countering speed and poor graples. Which means…_!"

After Christie's final jab, Helena was able to intercept it, and grab her arm. She made it bend in, and from there grabbed Christie by the stomach, throwing her over her head and seeing her tumbling to the ground. Christie however recovered her footing just in time.

"What is the matter, Christie? Getting sloppy?" Helena micked victoriously.

"Hmph. You talk as if you've already won." Christie smirked.

As the two ran at each other to continue, Mila stood on the side in amazement at how well these two fighters were. It was as if she was seeing to masters of their styles duke it out and really not holding back on each other. It was almost inspiring to see such drive from the two that she felt her fist itching to figh tone of them next. But seeing how the two are seriously intent on killing each other, she didn't feel too confident in winning.

"Guess I'll have to train more if I wanna figh them…" Mila giggled meekly. As she looked back at the fight, she couldn't help but notice something in the distance of the docks. She squinted her eyes to see what it was, only to discover that someone was indeed spying on the fight from behind one of the buildings of the docks. Mila at first thought it was bystander, just walking by to see all this take place, however the bystanding woman looked way too suspicious to be just enjoying the show.

The woman turned on a heel and walked away into the darkness of the buildings and out of sight. Mila was ever so curious as to who that was and why she was spying on the two women here fighting, and couldn't help but want to know.

While the platnum French woman and British white haired woman battled, Mila snuck past them in order to go to the dark alley way of the buildings.

Mila kept a well distance from this woman and was able to stay as quiet as can be as to not gain attention from her as she walked. When the woman turned to see if she had followers, Mila quickly hid behind trash cans, and other buildings just in time. Finally the woman stopped at an old construction site that was still being built up, as Mila hid behind one of the thick support beins that held the rest of the construction up.

The woman herself was seemingly opening her phone to talk with someone, or waiting for that someone to answer. Mila noticed that this woman was obviously American with tan skin color and hazel brown short hair. She was dressed in a black and white fur coat, long black tight pants, and black heels accompanied with black lether gloves.

"Hello, Donavan…" The woman began on the phone, "Yes…The test was successful…yes…The Alpha plan will proceed to its final stage…I will inform the client…"

Mila was curious as to what this "Alpha" plan was. And who was this client that ws spoke of.

"Yes, I'm in Tokyo right now…I was just about to call her after—Oh?...Of course. I'll have her visit you soon…goodbye, sir."

Lisa ended the call to the mysterious Donavan on the other end, and dialed another number into the cell phone. She placed it to her ear and waited for an answer. Apparently she got it,

"_Miyako. It's Lisa._" The woman said in Japanese. Mila was a bit rusty in Japanese so she could only make out a few words from her. However she heard the mention of "Miyako" loud and clear. She remembered Helena mentioning Miyako, so she made sure to pay extra attention.

"_Donovan said that you should come to the lab…yes, the chief…That's right…M.I.S.T…_"

Mila was able to catch the phrase "MIST" from this Lisa woman. Was she talking about mist as in weather? What could mist have to do with her spying on Christie and Helena she wondered.

"_Yes…I've been told to go and see the client in Tokyo…Okay then…Oh, and Donovan says that you should pay him a visit soon…Okay then…Sayonara._"

Lisa ended the call and placed the phone in her pocket. She was heading Mila's way, to which Mila paniced and was about to run off from being detected.

"_Well, what do we have here?_"

Both Mila and Lisa heard the voice of a japanese man speaking English from the distance. Mila didn't dare check who it was, otherwise she'd get spotted for sure. Lisa however looked to see that someone had been following her after all.

"Ah, Mr. Hayabusa." Lisa said in English now with her arms crossed and a smile, "I wasn't aware we had an arranged meeting."

"We didn't. I was simply scoping the area for any filth that Donovan is throwing out." The black suited ninja said bitterly by the sound of it. "And low and behold, I find you right after a recent attack in the middle of Tokyo. But enough about that. I see you're still doing your misguided experiments are you?"

"How blunt." Lisa said, "I am just doing my job as a scientist. Discovering new things to make the world a better place for everyone."

"Even if that means using demons as your lackys?" Ryu let out.

Mila covered her mouth to hold in her gasp. She knew right then and there that she had walked into a dangerous situation, and one sudden movement to try and escape could possibly put her life at risk.

"Demons? Whatever do you mean?" Lisa said naïvely.

"Don't play dumb with me." Ryu figured out, "I know that you and your group have been using these demons to attack people around the world. As to why you're doing this is something I'll make you answer myself."

"That's a bold statement. One that I'm sure you will back up." Lisa admitted "However I can't afford to waste my precious time with you tonight. What with our discoveries being made for the greater good."

"Your so-called "discoveries" have only put so many people through suffering, and my own cursed destiny. " Ryu said in exasperation of anger, "Not only that, but to involve the very son of Sparda into this as well. If that's not misguided, I don't know what is!"

"Well this is a surprise." Lisa said shockingly, "How is it you know of the legend of Sparda? Better yet, what makes you think we're using him?"

"I too have friends in high and low places." Ryu said, "You don't know what you're getting yourself into. Do not take the son of Sparda so lightly."

"I don't think you'll have to worry about that." Lisa smiled, "Sparda's son is only half of our plan's objective. Our real goal has only just begun."

"So be it." Ryu said as he got into fighting stance. "Then I will end this goal. Starting with you."

"So argumentative." Lisa smirked as she crouched down and got into Luchadora stance. "As expected from you, Mr. Hayabusa."

Mila kept herself hidden from the fight that was to ensue at any moment. This was definitely deeper than she really wanted to go. "Oh fuck me…"


	9. 9:Visit to Kyoto

**Hey everyone! Alito here! Sorry I took so long to update. I've been so busy with other fanfics to write that this one didn't get as much time, but when I did have actual time, I made sure to be devoted to do well on it. So without further ado, let's get right into it, shall we?**

**Anyway, here we go!**

***DISCLAIMER* I own nothing.**

**Chapter 9: Visit to Kyoto**

* * *

_**JAPAN **_

_**Tokyo Docks**_

_**21:35 p.m.**_

Fist and sweat were flying through the air as these two Amazon women exchanged fist with one another in a great display of skill in their respectful martial arts.

Helena was deflecting Christie's attacks as agile as she could, but the lack of training has dulled her reflexes to counter. She cursed her neglect of properly keeping up on her training while running DOATEC, but with all the work and fixing up she had to do, along with meetings, that seemed impossible.

"_Got her!_" Christie thought with an evil smile as she saw Helena distracted in thought and took this chance to strike for Helena's stomach, but Helena snapped out of it and deflected that attack to bring her other fist into Christie's cheek which connected, but had no affect on the white haired beauty. In fact, she pivoted from the impact of the punch and spun to the left to catch Helena's side. The sideway chop was blocked by Helena's arm and with that, swatted Christie's arm away. Helena then used this opening to perform a combo on Christie by doing a mixture of palm strikes, mixed with inward jabs and kicks.

This seemed to be in her favor, until Christie disrupted her flow by striking one of her hands in motion! Helena's grove was missed and Christie took her chance to attack with a cocked back jabbing hand and sent it right into Helena's gut, which was powerful enough to throw Helena off her feet and push her back a distance.

Helena was able to recover her stance, but was now on one knee; exhausted and clutching her stomach in pain and a bit of blood dripping from her pink lip. "_D-Damn…I had her…!_" Helena thought.

The heavy and panting of the platinum haired woman was almost a bit of a turn on to the white haired woman to witness. Her sweat slowly glissading off her creamy peach skin slipping in-between her firm cleavage. Her body put into a single knee position right before the snow white haired assassin. It was the dominance that she felt over the French woman that was leaving her wet a bit. She couldn't help it; that's just the sadistic beast she truly was. A demon behind those beautiful eyes of hers. But now wasn't the time to be euphoric. Now was the time to strike and kill her little crablouse.

Christie was actually surprised herself that Helena has lasted this long. She herself was suffering from exhaustion as well, and felt she wouldn't last too long if this keeps up. Of course there's no way she'd show it. Christie, instead, kept a sardonic smile on her face and didn't allow one pant or one drop of sweat be visible upon her face.

"Well now. This is quite sad." Christie said mockingly, "I honestly expected better from you my dear Helena."

Helena gritted her teeth tensely. "Don't talk down to me…like I am finished…! I can still…! I can still fight!" Helena said between breaths.

"That's not what I'm seeing, luv." Christie noted, "Though I will say I'm not surprised you're tired so quickly. After all, you've been so busy with building up your little corporation that you hardly had the time to train your body." Christie then placed a finger on her cheek in a mocking tone, "Quite a shame really."

Helena couldn't sit and take that from such a harpy. She stood back up and ran at Christie, determined to continue fighting her head on.

When all of a sudden, Helena stopped.

She felt her body quickly tense up and freeze. Her legs quit on her and she fell on her hands and knees, unable to stand anymore. Helena tried to move but she was shocked and confused as to why her body wouldn't respond to her properly. "_W-Wha…?-! What is…What is happening to me…?-!_"

"Aww, you poor thing.~"

Helena struggled to look up at her opponent who was revealing in her victory over the platinum French woman, while the blond's eye sight was slowly becoming distorted and hazy.

"It seems the poison has taken its affect already." Christie smiled. She removed her left glove and threw it to the ground. Christie bent over and cupped Helena's chin with her right gloved hand. Helena tried to resist, but Christie forced her to look into her grey menacing eyes. "You look tired. Why don't you just take a nap already?"

"Y-You…!What…What did…you…!" Helena tried to yell, but her drowsiness was preventing her from connecting a sentence in her mind. Plus, Christie's small giggle was a soft sound to her ears.

"Simple little princess." Christie whispered into her ear as she placed her ungloved left hand on Helena's neck, slowly guiding it down her corset and into her very bra. "Did you really think I would force my hand that easily? I'm not so sloppy that I wouldn't have an alternative to use."

Amongst tender feeling that she was feeling on her mound, Helena couldn't help but notice the distant stench of a strange toxin fill her nostrils so suddenly. Helena tried to pin point the aroma of the stench, but she just couldn't discover what. She would've given up, if not for the slight moist feeling she felt on her cheeks. It almost seemed to sting her very cheeks the tighter Christie's—That's it! That's what it was!

"Y-Your gloves…They're—Ah!~" Helena's words were replaced with a small whimper from the slight pinch of her breast, courtesy of Christie. "Y-You…bitch…!"

"Oh, feisty, are we?" Christie grinned, "I've been to see such resistance from me. It's quite a change from your hum drum revenge story." Christie then used her index finger to slowly spin her finger on her mound quite sensually, which was making Helena feel both uncomfortable and also tingling inside. "Now to answer your question; yes. My gloves were responsible for your predicament. You see dear, my gloves have been spiking with a special toxin of chloroform mixed with special recipes that I picked up from old Wiccan books."

"W-Wiccan…?" Helena uttered, trying to deny the pleasure she was feeling along with her consciousness slowly floating away from her.

"Yes. A little thing I picked up in my research. This is a new game we're playing, Douglas…And for your sake you best read up on the rules." Christie finally removed her hand from Helena's breast and slowly licked her fingers clean of residue. Helena could no longer fight the poison's affect any longer…Her eyes were heavy and her body could no longer respond to her. She slowly fell to the side as her eyes shut completely and she heard one last word from her mortal enemy;

"…Otherwise…you'll lose."

Helena felt the impact of her body hitting the ground and herself drifting to a deep slumber of darkness…

_**JAPAN **_

_**Construction site**_

_**21:39 p.m.**_

Mila was having a hard time not gasping or making a peep while staying hidden from a fight. Whenever she saw people having a sort of fight, her blood starts pumping and her heart beats faster and faster. It was an adrenaline high that she's felt whenever some interesting fight occurs. And that was exactly what was going on at the scene of her as a black suited ninja and a mysterious woman do battle right before her eyes.

Ryu was throwing kunai at Lisa, hoping to dull her moments, but that did no good as she dodged each one with great accuracy and procession. Lisa then charged at Ryu and unleashed a barrage of jabs and high kicks that Ryu had no choice but to be on the defensive of. At the last second, Ryu grabbed Lisa's leg and whirled her over his head and she was within the air! Ryu took this chance to jump up to her, grab her arm, and bring her close so that he could get under her and embrace her tightly! Finally he spun in rapid speed as they both tunneled into the ground head first with a damaging blast!

Mila covered her mouth quickly to mute her gasp and shock. An attack like that would be dangerous for a human to experience. And she certainly didn't want to be the next.

Ryu jumped from the damaging crater, looking to see if that really have an effect in the tanned woman. The dust covered the spot they landed and was hard to determine anything.

Mila also was curious as to whether she was okay or not…But Mila knew she was just fine. How she knew?

Because she was already behind Ryu!

It seemed she was so quick, that Ryu didn't notice at all! Lisa quickly pulled out a knife the second she appeared behind him, and was about to stab him!

Mila had no choice! She had to warn him!

"WATCH OUT-!" Mila yelled as she, without thinking, threw a large rock at Lisa!

Lisa noticed this rock, and quickly dodged it by jumping out of its path! She turned to where it came from to already find a red gloved fist hurtling right towards her face! Lisa dodged the punch and stepped away from a possible second one.

"Well well, we have a guest." Lisa smiled, seeing Mila with her red UFC gloves in a fighting stance, "Took you long enough to reveal yourself."

"Woman, what are you doing here?" Ryu demanded in English as he turned to her.

Mila was almost intimidated by his very presence and the authority in his voice, but disregarded that to say, "I just saved your life. No need to thank me."

"I wasn't." Ryu stated while walking to the front of her.

"Oh, I see." Lisa smiled deviantly, "So that's why you didn't react. You wanted to lure out our little audience. If she reacted in the way she did, then you'd know if she was an enemy or not." She placed an index finger on her cheek in thought, "Not a very smart plan."

"Well that was one of the reasons…and the second was to get you in proper position." Ryu said cunningly.

"Position?" Lisa questioned at first, however the question was immediately answered as she saw the past kunai that Ryu threw that she dodged! They had a strange dark aura about them, and it wasn't until she was too late to move that she realized it was a trap!

"_Dakusufia keimusho!_" Ryu proclaimed as he brought his palm to his chest and without warning, the kunai knives exploded in to a small sphere of darkness and wind erupted around Lisa and ensnared her in a deadly whirlwind that no normal human could leave uninjured.

"A-Amazing…!" Mila expressed in awe. Looked back at Ryu and asked, "Is it over?"

"No. That won't hold her for long. I'm sure she'll break free at some point." Ryu confirmed. "For now, we must escape for now."

"What?-! Why?-!" Mila objected, "I can take her no problem!"

"Trust me, that woman isn't the same woman she was before." The super Ninja confirmed, "She's become stronger, faster, and more dangerous. If you were to fight her as you are, you would surely loose…or worse."

"Yes. Listen to the grown up, Miss."

The two looked back at the black sphere, only to see it completely crumble right before their eyes into utter nothingness at the tan woman's feet. Ryu was almost impressed to find that there was not a single scratch on her. However her shades were off, revealing her brown hazel eyes, and there were small scrapes on her fur coat and pants but even those were small.

"S-She broke out!" Mila announced.

"So then, it appears you really have done something to yourself to make your body immune to any attack." Ryu figured, "Clever. However I'm sure that with such a unique ability, there are bound to be side affects with dire consequences. Am I wrong, Ms. Lisa?"

"In some cases, that may be true." Lisa said, "However in this case you thought wrong. I am more than capable of fighting with no restraints or restrictions then a normal human body would be able to. All this from tiring research and long term patience."

"Such patience should be dissipated if you're risking your own life." Ryu insisted, "Don't you see what Donovan is doing? He's using you as a guinea pig to further his own research. You're nothing but a tool to his madness."

"Whether madness or not doesn't concern me one bit." Lisa smiled, "All that matters is that I fulfill what is asked of me without fail." Lisa then proceeded to go into Luchadore stance once more, "Now then, I'm afraid one of you will have to die here. That's not a problem, is it?"

Both Mila and Ryu stood battle ready, as they were now locked in a fight with something that was no longer of human origin. Ryu had to be careful, as he could accidently miss and hit this red haired woman with one of his attacks. For now, he had to rely on hand to hand combat to deal with this matter.

Mila herself was starting to feel shaken up. Was she actually prepared to take on a woman who has survived a plummeting attack head first into the ground without a scratch? Though she punched a demon's lights out, this tan woman was definitely something different from them. Even so, she knew she had to hold her ground in this fight. For all she knew it could be her last.

Lisa made the first move and ran at the two in two seconds flat! Mila was caught off guard, but luckily Ryu was able to react as he stopped the incoming punch to Mila with his bare hand.

"I stopped her for you." Ryu noted.

"R-Right!" Mila nodded. She made her move and threw a single jab towards Lisa, however Lisa jumped back before it could make contact.

"_An opening_!" Mila thought as she ran in on Lisa and began her assault on Lisa. Each jab was faster to connect then the last, and her kicks were lighting quick in this deadly barrage of attacks thrown at the scientist. In her anticipation for another strike, Lisa was grabbed by Mila and from there Mila brought her other arm up under Lisa's extended arm and grabbed it with both hands. Finally Mila whirled Lisa over her head and slammed Lisa into the ground.

Lisa was about to recover herself back to her feet, but was stopped by the sudden pounce of Mila who was on top of Lisa, and proceeded to wail on Lisa with her fist, disabling Lisa to properly defend herself. She was simply receiving brutal punches to the face, reacting in the smallest manner with not even a drop of blood visible on her. Lisa stopped one of her punches and brought her legs up to wrap around Mila's neck to bring Mila to the ground and Lisa on top of her. Lisa got out of that position and switched to a pining grapple of grabbing one of Mila's legs and bending it up while Lisa layed on her.

Mila gritted her teeth in agony at the unbearable bending of her leg. In a ditch effort, Mila punched Lisa in the jaw, weakening Lisa's hold, and allowing Mila to push her off. Both stood back up, having distance from each other to properly scoop one another out.

"Heh, not bad." Lisa smirked, whipping the blood from her lip. "You're quite the fighter."

"Thanks." Mila nodded with a focused expression, "You're a tough one yourself."

"Oh no. I'm just a simple test subject for the bigger picture. But you; you have something that I haven't seen in such a long time…" Lisa stood normal with a dark smile on her face as she spoke those words;

"Oh yes…you're just like your father."

Mila's focused was blown out of the water and was replaced with a dreaded astonishment to the revelation that was put out in the open from Lisa. Mila's hands slowly dropped. Her face kept in stupefaction and her heart beating rapidly in her chest so hard, she had to clutch it.

"W-What…? " Mila swallowed to be able to speak, "W-what…What did you say?"

"Melina Rodriguez; daughter of Victor Rodriguez. I figured you had to be his daughter due to the style you use. It's definitely your father's down to a T." Lisa speculated, "Not only that but you obviously share that red hair of his."

"Wait a second!" Mila interrupted, "How do you know about my dad?-!"

"Well—"

Lisa was interrupted by the sudden chiming coming from her pocket. She reached into her pocket and pulled from it her cell phone to answer it.

"This is Lisa Hamilton…Okay…No, keep her alive. We may need her in the future…Don't complain. I would have thought you liked a good game to play…Well anyway, don't kill her. Just bring her back with you. I'll be there as soon as I take care of business here." Lisa hung up her phone and looked back at Mila while slipping it back in her pocket. "So sorry Ms. Mila, but I'm afraid I'll have to disband from this fight."

"What?-! Wait! You can't leave yet!" Mila pleaded, "At least tell me this; if you've seen my father before, do you know where he is now?-!"

Lisa was actually surprised that Mila didn't know where her own father was. "You don't know…Guess I'm supposed to keep that a secret. However instead of worrying about me, you should be worrying about the little scuffle you ran from."

Mila was about to ask what she meant, but then remembered that she did leave Helena to fight Christie on her own. Mila also had a hunch that the woman Lisa was talking to on the phone was definitely Christie! She cursed herself for leaving her behind like that. "Ninja guy! We gotta—huh?"

Mila turned to Ryu only to find that he was gone. Could it be he was gone this whole time? But to where? No matter, Mila looked back at Lisa, only to find that she too had vanished from the place she stood. Mila was now alone in the small construction site, forced to be hung up on her father's whereabouts finally being discovered, but the only person who knew where had vanished from sight the second she turned her back.

"Shit…!" Mila cussed as she ran back through the alley way, running as fast as she could to reach the docks before she was too late and Helena was captured. She jumped over garbage cans and turned lanes in order to reach back to where the submarine was parked.

Finally Mila found the docks by the sound of the sea's waves and turned one last building to see the open area of the docks again. Upon her discovery, there was no sign of the white haired woman anywhere. However what she did see was a tall black figure holding a blond haired woman in his arms.

"Hey! Ninja guy!" Mila called to Ryu as she ran to him. She stopped the second she could get a good look at Helena with a suspenseful expression on her face. Helena seemed to be unconscious and had a bleeding lip and her side was badly damaged. Not only that, but the torso of her outfit was tampered with; like it was forced open by hands.

"Don't worry. She'll be fine." Ryu assured her. "She's been poisoned, but nothing a special anti-biotic can't fix from someone I know."

"Thank you." Mila sighed of relief, "It would've been terrible if that white haired woman took her away. By the way where is she?" Mila asked while looking around cautiously.

"Gone." Ryu answered. Mila was going to question him more, but he turned away before more could be said with Helena still in his arms. "Reach into my pouch on the back of my waist and get my phone. There should be a number on it that says "Zack". Call it and tell him to pick you both up."

"This Zack guys in Japan?" Mila asked.

"Yes. Scouting for DOA contestants. Just as Helena ordered." The super ninja answered. "Now hurry."

Mila wasted no time and reached into the back of the black suited ninja's pouch that was so close to his back side that she couldn't help but blush, hoping she doesn't let her hand slip. Who knows what he'd do then.

She successfully acquired the phone; it was a rather simple cell phone by design. Not even a flip phone. Not bothering to sweat details, Mila clicked the button on the phone and found Zack's number right there. She clicked on it, and held it to her ear for a response.

"_Hello!~ This is the super fly Zack on the phone! How ya doin'?-!_"

"Hello Zack! This is Mila! I—!"

"_Ha-ha! Gotcha! I'm not here at the moment, so please leave a message!_"

Mila heard the beep and groaned irritably as she ended the call right there. "He's not there."

"Hmmm…No choice then." Ryu sighed, "You two will have to come with me."

"T-To where?" Mila asked cautiously.

"Don't worry. I'm just taking you to a man I know that can help your friend." Ryu assured her, "The poison coursing through Ms. Douglas's veins is infused with a Wiccan recipe; more than any normal doctor can heal."

"Wiccan…Wait. You know who Helena is?" Mila questioned.

Ryu was getting annoyed with the questions as now was not the best time to be asking. Still, he could at least understand why she would be nervous. She seems like a normal girl who's been caught up in a dangerous world. But then again, if she is just a normal girl with MMA skills…what about her father? He may have left their fight, but Ryu did over hear the talk of Mila's father. Victor Rodriguez…There had to be more to that name then he's thinking.

"Um…hello?"

Ryu turned his attention back to Mila from his train of thought to at least answer her previous question. "To answer your last question; yes, I know of Ms. Helena Douglas. But that's another matter all together." Ryu then took a knee and looked over his shoulder at the red head. "For now, just get on my back. We need to go to the man I know and quickly. The poison in Ms. Douglas's veins may be weak, but if not treated soon, she could potentially fall into comatose."

Mila gasped and ran to Ryu without warning. She grabbed on to him with her arms over his shoulders and her legs wrapped around his waist. Ryu stood up and turned to the building in which Christie last stood.

"There's still two more questions I must ask." Mila asked before Ryu took off. (To his chargin)

"What are they? And make them quick." Ryu ordered.

"W-Well first; how are you able to have a phone if you 're a ninja, and how do you know about Wiccan recipes? I thought Ninjas didn't know about that stuff."

Ryu guessed a ninja with a cell phone was a bit out of the ordinary, but the Wiccan knowledge was a more obvious reason.

"Simple. I just have friends in high and low places…or maybe the better term is friend…Anyway, let's go."

Mila nodded as she held on tight and all three of them vanished in the blink of an eye with black crow feathers flowing in the wind from their wake.

_**JAPAN **_

_**Kyoto**_

_**22:03 p.m.**_

The two ladies and the black haired demon killer finally appeared off the long train ride from Tokyo to Kyoto with no issues…well except with a bunch of dudes trying to flirt with Kasumi and Kokoro, and Dante deciding to start something with them after a side comment on Dante's fohawk-like hairstyle. The result was brutal. Dante was lucky Kokoro knew the train driver as a worker of her mother's DOATEC Corporation in Japan, otherwise getting home would be even more difficult.

All three of them exited the train station and were met with the city of Kyoto in its entire splendor. The culture was practically pouring all over the city as there stood buildings that have been standing since the edo period with smooth wooden texture and the very streets still being sand. The shops and other attractions were stationed in the old Japanese style as they were long ago, carrying a sort of cultural enlightenment for the eyes to see. Sure there were telephone poles present, but even so it was still magical. To make this scenery even more believable, there were also people who wore kimonos of beautiful variety from old to young. And to make the time even more magical, the night breeze rolled in and in the air blew ripe sakura petals through the city, really creating the significant beauty that showered the city streets.

"Ah Kyoto." Kasumi smiled, "Still as beautiful as I remembered."

"Oh no." Kokoro blushed with a smile, "I-It's the same old city as it was for a long time. Anyway, let's get going. Mother should be waiting for us."

"Right." Kasumi nodded, "Let's go, Dante…Dante?"

Both Kasumi and Kokoro looked back at Dante. Dante didn't move at all, nor did he say a word. He had an impressed and at the same time amazed expression from being captivated by the beauty of the city and all it had to offer.

"Dante?" Kasumi called.

Dante quickly snapped out of it and once again looked back at the girls. "What? Oh, sorry about that."

"I know. It's quite beautiful, isn't it?" Kokoro smiled brightly, "That's the magic of Kyoto."

The three continued to walk down the streets of Kyoto, seeing the beautiful scenery that was being displayed to them. Kasumi and Kokoro decided to let Dante take the lead, as they both smiled at how Dante was so captivated by the city. He truly was like a kid at Disney world for the first time; speechless.

Dante himself couldn't help but look in curiosity and interest at the city. The sakura petals blissfully flying on the air, the culture being so rich and righteous, the people sharing their interest in a wholesome and happy way; even though there's so much terror in the world, they still somehow are able to find that silver lining that allowed them to hold strong to their traditions and let that guide them through their history to bring here. He didn't know why, or what it was that was doing it, but for the first time in a long time…he felt safe here...almost peaceful.

"Dan-chan!" Kokoro called.

Dante quickly turned to see Kokoro, but for a brief second before his eyes, Kokoro looked younger; at least the age of six or seven years old, wearing a cute little Kimono and the sun shining brightly in the sky with sakura petals breezing through the air.

A small petal got into his eye and upon brushing it out, Dante saw Kokoro as her older self again along with Kasumi being there as well. Dante was confused as to what he had just seen, and wondered if what he saw was real or not. Obviously not real, but…did he really see that, or was his mind playing tricks on him.

"Are you coming?" Kokoro called as she and Kasumi were making a turn down another lane.

"I'm coming!" Dante called back as he ran to them and continued walking down another path. On the other side of this long pathway was a large home that stood taller than most of the other homes and held a more wealthy air about it from the actual cemented building and long guard wall that surrounded the building inside its boundaries.

"There it is!" Kokoro presented cheerfully as she stood before Kasumi and Dante with arms out at the large building, "My home!"

"Wow!" Kasumi exclaimed, "It's a lot bigger then when I last came here!"

"You've been here before?" Dante questioned.

"Yes. It was a few years ago, after…after I ran away." Kasumi confessed.

"Ran away from what?" Dante curiously questioned.

"It's in the past now." Kasumi waved. "It's not important now."

"There you go again. Keepin' secrets from me, and not givin' me answers." Dante vexed with his arms crossed, "And you still haven't answered the questions from before."

"Look, I'll answer those when I can." Kasumi insisted, "But for now, just trust me. I know what I'm doing."

"Which is?" Dante asked.

Kasumi thought about it thoroughly for an answer that was half baked, and quickly came up with the words; "To protect Kokoro from danger and to also find out if Christie has something to do with all this."

Dante stared her down for a few seconds before sighing and dropping his arms in surrender. "Alright. I'll trust you this time. But you'll have to answer those questions soon, and if you don't, then that's it."

Kasumi nodded in acceptance.

"Hey, would you two come on?-!" called Kokoro. The two looked to see that they were talking while Kokoro was already down the lane by her door.

"We better get going." Kasumi suggested.

"Yeah, yeah…" Dante said lazily.

Both jogged to the large and wealthy house, but Dante still didn't feel trust worthy of Kasumi. He didn't know what it was, but he knew something was being told to him besides the obvious questions. There was more than that and he knew it. However, he decided to play dumb for now to see more of what this Kasumi was keeping from him. "_Still I wonder why these demons are attacking these set people._" Dante wondered, "_But I doubt she'd know…would she?_"

_**JAPAN **_

_**Unknown location**_

_**21:43 p.m.**_

The red headed girl had heard another flush of wind soar through her ear and finally dissipate into silence. Now all that could be heard was a slight echo as if they were in some sort of cave.

"You can open your eyes now."

Mila did as the ninja said as she slowly got off of Ryu and looked around. There was nothing around them but complete darkness and the only light visible was the one that shined over her and Ryu like a questioning room. She looked back at Helena's unconscious body to make sure nothing looked wrong with her.

"W-Where are we?" Mila asked.

"You've returned."

Mila was caught off guard by the sound of a male voice from the darkness. It sound like he was a few steps away from the light, but she still couldn't see him.

"Yes. Unfortunately we've hit a problem in the plan." Ryu noted. He nodded down at the French blonde's body in his arms.

"Quickly take her to our specialist. She'll know what to do."

Ryu nodded and walked into the darkness, opposite to the voice. Mila stood there all alone within the light, looking around for any glimmer of human existence within the darkness. Alas, no luck at all.

"And you are?"

Mila was startled a bit by the sudden male voice asking her a question. She didn't want to be rude (or have something worse happen to her) so she complied with an answer; "I-I'm here with that woman…Is she going to be okay?"

"Don't worry. We have an expert in this issue; she'll take care of it."

Mila sighed of relief. She at least knew that they could be trusted enough to help Helena. Even so that still didn't erase the doubt that she felt of who she was even talking to.

"Thank you, but…who are you?" Mila asked.

"No one worth mentioning right now, but I will tell you this; you've been involved in a darker world that has for whatever reason involved you."

"You mean…the demons?" Mila questioned.

"Yes. And since you know of the demons, you know how dangerous that they can be. Do tell how you stumbled into the darkness of the real world."

"O-Oh…I met a guy…" Mila said, "A guy named…Dante."

The voice didn't respond. Mila was worried that she said something that infuriated him to not make him talk. The voice was replaced by the tapping of shoes walking closer and closer to the light. Mila was under suspense at what was going to happen when his foot finally stepped into the light above her.

Finally a foot entered the light and soon, his whole body appeared before her, bathed in the light foe her to see clearly; the man wore a black long coat with blue interior and a long collar. He also wore light blue gloves, blue slacks and black dress shoes. He wore a strange metal mask on his face that had its eyes tapped and a strange sharp toothed smile. But what made Mila actually cautious of this man was the fact that he had a long katana in his hands. Luckily for her, it wasn't drawn and still in its sheath.

"So…you know Dante?" The masked man asked.

Mila nodded.

"I see…" The masked man slowly reached for his mask and began to take it off of his face. Mila stared in anticipation for what his true face might reveal for her.

The mask finally came off and hit the hard ground with an echoing hit to the ground.

Mila looked at the man, and was completely taken back by the very face he wore. Though his hair was pure white and brushed back, there was no mistaking their same blue eyes in the slightest. Their facial expressions were a bit different and their complexity differed ever so slightly, but it was obvious that they were one in the same with their faces.

"D-Dante…?" Mila accidently uttered.

"No…" The man answered with a stern expression and voice to match. "My name is Vergil. I am Dante's brother."


	10. 10: The Coming Sotrm

**Hey everyone! Alito here! Just got back from this awesome trip and had a blast at Universal Studios and Islands of adventure! Hell yeah! But anyway, I'm back to do this cool fanfic here. Now this one doesn't have fighting, but more so a growing plot for something to come in the future, so here it is.**

**Here we go!**

***DISCLAIMER* I own nothing.**

**Chapter 10: The Coming Storm**

* * *

_**JAPAN **_

_**UNKNOWN LOCATION**_

_**21:45 P.M.**_

After the failure of retrieving the parcel, Helena Douglas, Christie strolled into her luxurious hotel room, still dark with only the moon giving a pure light source into the otherwise dreary dark room. Christie got to her knees as she opened a laptop that was already lying on the glass table before her and the bright light brought more light into the room itself. Christie squinted her eyes at first from the brightness, but quickly got use to it and continued from there.

She typed in an access code of a page and soon enough, a small video appeared before her along with the camera in her computer screen activated.

"What happened?" Asked a man sitting in a chair, looking rather irritated.

"My my, aren't you irritable tonight, Donavan." Christie smirked, "Bad day?"

"Not now, Christie!" Donovan sighed as he pushed his glasses back up, "I only want what I expected you to call me for."

"Ah yes. Retrieving Helena Douglas and tracking Dante, correct?" Christie remembered, "Well there's one of those issues solved."

"What do you mean?"

"I was interrupted in retrieving Ms. Helena Douglas by a little black pest of a ninja." Christie shrugged, "It appears that you've made the ninjas angry…again."

"Let those fools have their pissy fits. I have no time for them." Donovan spat bitterly, "What matters is that you failed to apprehend her."

"I may not have the chef, but I have something more…" Christie reached into the brown handbag beside her and pulled out to show Donovan a grey laptop. She smiled dastardly at the item she's obtained. "…The recipes."

Donovan looked at the laptop in speculation, gendering at its smooth flat covering and the brand of the company who made it on the left upper corner of it. No doubt those laptops don't go cheap so she must have used the money from her success to obtain it. This was only annoying Donavan even more at how she was so successful and able to buy the most expensive resources by ruling a company _he _use to rule. However he regained composure as he knew that his plans will not falter.

"So then, does it have anything worth examining in there?" Donovan asked.

"I don't know. " Christie teased playfully with a sardonic smirk as she examined the laptop herself, "Maybe it does…maybe it doesn't. Oh, what could it be? What could it be?"

"Don't test my patience, woman!" Donovan slammed his fist into his desk in anger and knocked his coffee over as well. "Now tell me! What's in the laptop?-!"

"Oh, don't get your knickers in a twist." Christie sighed playfully as she put the laptop down, "I'll gladly transfer the proper files to your computer…if you do something for me."

Donovan sighed and sat back in his chair, arms folded. "I'm listening."

"It's simple; I give you the rest of DOATEC information and in return…" Christie smiled, "I want my guns, and the one called Hunter no. 3."

Donovan cupped his chin in deep thought of this trade. He really wanted that data and felt it could contain info so that his experiments could go just as planned. Its fool proof if all is as it needs to be for him. Finally he left his train of thought and said, "So be it."

_**KYOTO **_

_**KOKORO'S HOME**_

_**22:05 P.M.**_

Dante, Kokoro, and Kasumi stood before the entrance of the large house, almost eager to enter into it. Dante may not have wanted to admit it, but he was the most curious one there as he's never actually seen the filthy riches of rich people. It did piss him off to see snobby people though, but he would have loved to go into their houses.

"Welcome you two; to my home." Kokoro introduced as she opened the door. The second that door opened, Dante and Kasumi felt as though they were in another world! They were greeted by a long stair case made of pure marble that lead to the upstairs level. The floors were also marbled in white and the table in front of the stairs holding a very beautiful bouquet of flowers that seem to bring great color to the almost OCD entrance room. At the top of the stairs was also a back door that seemed to lead to a small yard in the back. Where flowers were obviously growing.

"I'll admit, it's not all that…" Kokoro sighed.

"_Not all that?-!_" Kasumi and Dante exclaimed in their thoughts.

"S-So then, where might your mother be?" Kasumi asked.

"She's probably in her room, doing work." Kokoro shrugged, "She's sometimes in there for hours on her computer."

"Well she is the leader of DOATEC for Japan." Kasumi figured.

"So there's really other DOATECs besides Helena's?" Dante asked.

"Some few, while others are larger." Kokoro answered. "Oka-sa—I mean mother, doesn't really talk about her private work life. She says it's nothing to do with me and I should enjoy my youth." Kokoro began to look depressed but still kept a slight smile, "I worry about her, you know. I don't like seeing my mom so tired and stressed out like that…It makes me scared that one day she might—"

"—I might what? Die? Far from it, dear."

All three looked up the stairs to see that an older woman walked down the steps. She was dressed in a black kimono and her black long hair was done in an up do style. She had dark brown eyes with small black bags under them, but not enough to take away from her perfect peach skin and flawless lush lips. Even the way she walked was just as graceful.

"Oka-san!" Kokoro said happily as she walked to her mother.

"Kokoro. Thank goodness you're okay." Miyako said in Japanese with worry as she placed her hand gently on Kokoro's cheek, "I saw the news about that large explosion in Tokyo. I was so worried."

"Don't worry, Oka-san. I'm just fine." Kokoro assured her mother in Japanese as well. "Though, my glasses were damaged and destroyed in the process."

"Such items can be replaced." Miyako smiled, "All that matters is that you're okay."

"Thank you, Oka-san…" Kokoro said humbly meeting her mother's smile which made her smile as well. Even though she did seem rather exhausted, Miyako was more than happy to discover her daughter's safety and to have her there safe and sound.

"Now then," Miyako finally turned to Kasumi and Dante to ask, "These must be the guest you told me about on the phone."

"Un! They are." Kokoro quickly ran behind Kasumi and pushed her forward, much to Kasumi's shyness. "This is Kasumi. I've known her from the DOA tournament."

"H-Hello." Kasumi said modestly in Japanese as she bowed respectfully, "It's a pleasure to meet you, Miyako-san."

"Likewise." Miyako nodded, "It's a pleasure to finally meet you. Kokoro has told me much about you."

Then Kokoro finally wrapped an arm around the Tank top wearing black haired male (much to Miyako's surprise and Dante's chargin) and she said giddily, "And last but not least, recognize this guy? I think you do! He's—!"

"—Dante?"

Kokoro stopped and got off of Dante to look back at her mother to find that she wore a facially shocked expression on her beautiful self. She trotted down the stairs and walked right up to Dante, still keeping that surprised look.

"D-Dante. I-Is it really you?" Miyako said while placing a hand gently on Dante's cheek.

"Whoa there!" Dante said surprisingly as he nodded his head away from Miyako's hand. "Personal space here."

"O-Oh, I'm sorry." Miyako said apologetically. She couldn't help but stare at Dante with absolute astonishment weld up in her brown eyes. "My God…I can't believe it's really you again, Dante…"

"Uhh…what did she say?" Dante asked Kokoro.

Miyako was confused why he asked Kokoro on what was said, but then realized that Dante couldn't understand Japanese and therefore she needed to speak English with him. She cleared her throat and said in perfect English; "I apologize, Dante. I did not know you couldn't speak Japanese."

"Oh, no problem, I'm use to bein' in conversations that I have no idea are." Dante said as he eyed Kasumi dead center, which in turn, made her feel uncomfortable. Dante looked back at Miyako to ask, "And wait a sec; how do you know who I am? Kokoro didn't say my name to you on the phone."

"Eh? You don't remember?" Miyako said, "You don't remember coming here a long time ago?"

Dante replied by shrugging his shoulders to show he was stumped on all this.

"That's the thing too, mother." Kokoro said as she walked back to her Miyako. "He doesn't seem to remember much of when we were kids. I told him that we were friends back then, but he doesn't remember at all."

"You know, I'm quite curious of that as well." Kasumi stepped up to comment to Dante. "You never did specify that you actually visited Japan before. Care to explain why?"

"Like I said; I don't remember." Dante stressed, "How many times do I gotta say it?"

"Meningitis."

All three turned to Miyako in confusion, but Dante was the one to say, "What?"

"Meningitis. That must be why you don't remember." Miyako speculated with her hand on her chin in deep thinking.

"What's meningitis?" Dante questioned.

"An inflammation of the brain and spinal cord, and extremely life threatening." Miyako explained, "If not treated a person could die from it because of the high temperature of the brain. However, one of the side effects after meningitis is memory loss. If I remember correctly, you were treated for that a long time ago back when you were six or seven. I guess the effects stuck with you."

"Ah, I see." Kokoro said in surprise, "so that's why you can't remember!"

"Huh. Kinda explains why I don't remember a damn thing before I was seven." Dante figured messaging the back of his head, "Still, how'd I even get this Meningitis?"

"There are a number of ways; each different from the next." Miyako said sadly, "I'm sorry you had to suffer through such a horrific event." She then looked up at Dante with a relieved smile, "But at least you're alive and that's what matters."

"Yeah…maybe that was the mistake…" Dante mumbled.

"What was that?" Miyako asked.

"Nothin'." Dante answered trying to change the subject, "So…that means that…I really was here as a kid?"

"Yes. You were." Miyako nodded.

"See?-! I told you!" Kokoro said happily.

"Whoa whoa whoa! Hold on." Dante stopped hastefully, "When the hell did I even get to Japan? That's the question."

"Ah yes. You don't remember such things like that either." Miyako said, "Well, you see…you came here with…your mother."

Dante stared at Miyako with a perplexed expression on his face, trying to accept this strange memory in the first place. But when he heard the word "mother", suddenly he couldn't help but ask; "Mother…?"

"But of course. Everyone has a mother, Dante." Miyako smiled, "Even you."

Dante couldn't believe that his mother was actually alive. Or that he had a mother who actually cared for him. He slowly turned and paced back a bit to try and get everything figured out. This was a lot to suddenly take in what with Dante being reminded that he came to Kyoto years ago, and that he had a mother to boot. Hell, Dante wondered when he even learned Japanese to be able to communicate with Kokoro when they were young. Finally, he turned back to a worried Kokoro and Kasumi, and a concerned Miyako, and said, "I knew I had a mother, but…I didn't think that…she actually cared enough to take me all the way out to Japan."

"She did." Miyako smiled, "She'd travel here with you to Kyoto…to visit my daughter."

Dante looked directly at Kokoro, looking as though he wanted an answer from her, to which Kokoro nodded in confirmation with a smile as she said, "Mother's right. Your mom would visit us in the summer to let you and I play together." Kokoro then placed her finger on her chin in remembrance, "If I remember correctly, it's been such a way since we were at least four years old." She looked back at Dante as she walked to him with a humble smile. "And we've been friends since that day…till you had Meningitis. But now that's passed." Kokoro finally stood before Dante to try and touch his shoulder, but Dante pushed off from her with a concerned look on his face. "What matters now is that we're together again."

Dante felt a little bad that he couldn't remember any of this at all. There was so much that's been going on in his life that he couldn't bother to get himself to recall most of his life before the orphanage. In fact, the orphanage was the farthest he could actually remember. After that, it's nothing but a black haze to him.

Dante sighed it all out, and finally looked up again with a smile, "Well…that's good to know. Hell, I always assumed my parents didn't want me 'cause I saw demons."

"Far from it." Miyako said as she walked to Dante, "Your mother cared deeply for you. She couldn't bear to part from you at all." She finally stood before Dante, and smiled kindly, "She truly wanted you to be happy. And only wanted the best for you."

"Well she's got a weird way of showin' it with the life I got." Dante said irritable, but then asked, "So…do you know anything about her; Hair color? Favorite outfits? Or better yet, tell me this…where is she now?"

There it was. There's the question she knew Dante would ask at some point. She dreaded answering it for she knew exactly what happened to Dante's mother. She took a deep breath, knowing this would be a long story, but she felt Dante was old enough to know what happened. "Of course." Miyako nodded, "You ought to know now. " She looked solemnly towards Dante, "You see—"

"Oh wow! Look at the time!" Everyone suddenly turned to see Kasumi speaking out so suddenly. She looked towards the clock and said, "It's getting pretty late. I think we should quickly get to bed. Since we will be going to the same school as Kokoro."

Dante was at a loss for words. He stared daggers at Kasumi for once again holding him from learning important details about his past. It was bad enough she was holding secrets, but now no one else is allowed to tell him anything? "Seriously? You decide to talk now?"

"S-Sorry. I just thought it was something worth mentioning since we still have a mission to focus on." Kasumi reasoned calmly, "We must protect Kokoro and attend school with her to keep a better eye on her."

"Keep an eye on her, what do you mean?" Miyako questioned.

"There are…dangerous thugs after me, mother!" Kokoro lied, "They're trying to come after me because I'm the daughter of DOATEC Japan!"

"What?-! How shameless!" Miyako said angrily in Japanese, "How dare they hunt down my sweet daughter like this?-! It's unacceptable!" She placed her hands on Kokoro's shoulder with now a worried expression. "Are you sure you don't want to skip school until this is all settled?"

"Daijobuyo Oka-san . I have Dan-chan and Kasumi-san to watch over me." Kokoro assured her mother in Japanese, "I'll be fine. Yaksoku."

Kokoro may have promised her mother, but that still didn't make her worries go away. But it is better that her daughter have strong people with her at all times. She's seen Kasumi as a ninja of the Mugen Tenshin Ryu while Dane was still a mystery to his strength. Even so, this was the less conspicuous way she could make sure her daughter was safe, so she had no choice but to believe in her daughter. She slowly removed her hands from Kokoro's shoulder and said, "Okay...I trust you."

"Arigato, Oka-san." Kokoro thanked with a small bowed. She looked back at Dante and Kasumi and smiled, "Okay guys! I'll show you to your rooms." She said in English again. "Follow me."

_**JAPAN**_

_**UNKNOWN LOCATION**_

_**23:44 P.M.**_

Mila had just gotten use to the darkness of the secret halls that seemed to go on for minutes at a time. She saw nothing but bricks upon bricks leading further and further down a pathway with no actual end in sight. But at least it wasn't all bad for Mila. At least she had company to walk with; although that company happened to be a refined, katana holding, terrorist whom is also the brother of a dangerous public enemy in another city and the rest of the world.

"W-Wow. This tunnel goes on forever." Mila smiled nervously, "I bet it goes all the way to China when we reach the end! Heh heh…uhh…"

Vergil didn't respond. He didn't even crack a smile or laughed at all. Mila knew the joke was a bit tasteless, but not so tasteless that he doesn't even respond. That just made this awkward walk even more awkward for her, but Vergil seemed to not mind without a single word.

Mila decided to give it one last shot, or risk awkward time with Dante's "too-cool-to-talk" brother. "S-So anyway…"

"Mila Rodriguez, correct?"

Mila was caught off guard by Vergil suddenly speaking like that, but calmed down and said, "Y-Yeah, that's me."

"I see." Vergil nodded, "You're just like how he is. Your father, I mean."

"R-Really?-!" Mila stopped and asked impatiently, "Do you know where he is?-!"

"No, I don't. I've only heard rumors of your father."

Mila slumped with disappointment. "Oh…okay…"

"I apologize." Vergil said, "I didn't know that speaking of your father would strike a nerve."

"No, no. That's okay." Mila assured him, "It's just…I've been looking for him for a long time now."

"He ran out on you?" Vergil asked.

"Yes…and no." Mila said solemnly, "When I was young, my father said that he had to leave for some service in the army. This was back when I was about six or seven years old. He sent me to my grandparents to live, while he was gone. For years I waited for him to come back, but…he never did."

"And your mother?"

"She died giving birth to me." Mila answered with a hint of sadness still lingering in her voice. "All I had was my father. He really was a great man and a loving father to me…I didn't know what I'd do without him…till he left."

"I'm sorry to hear that." Vergil apologized, "Please, I didn't mean to bring up such painful memories."

"Oh, it's okay. I've gotten over it a long time ago." Mila assured Vergil, "But…Now I wanna know about my father. I know it's more than just the army he's doing. It's deeper than that, I can just feel it." She turned her glance to Vergil, who was still looking forward, "I wanna find my father once and for all!"

Though Vergil looked as though he wasn't paying attention, he couldn't help but feel a strange irony in Mila's longing for her father. Even so he questioned it no more and simply replied with; "And I'm sure you will find him…but if you ever need any help in doing so, you're more than able to ask."

"Thank you…by the way, what sort of rumors did you hear about my dad?" Mila asked.

Vergil stopped walking and Mila also stopped. She wondered while he suddenly halted or why the grip on his sword became tighter for some odd reason. Could it be she asked the wrong question? And if she did she worried as to what Vergil might do with that katana in his hand.

"Well…" Vergil started calmly, "I don't know how to say this without you feeling hurt or anything…especially your longing to rekindle such severed bonds with him…"

"Then don't." Mila begged, "Tell me straight up. I wanna know about him, and what he's been doing no matter what." She reached for Vergil's gloved right hand and held it tightly for him to answer. "So please! Tell me what the rumors are!"

Vergil was caught off guard at first at how desperate she was in wanting to know about her own father, but at he soon realized that she's not had such an easy life with no actual father in her life to be there for her or support her at all. He felt that maybe him telling her these rumors would allow her to reach closure and maybe even be able to find him.

"Okay then." Vergil nodded, "I'll tell you."

"Thank you, Vergil." Mila smiled in appreciation. "I really do appreciate this."

"Of course…but…can you let go of my hand now?"

Mila had just noticed how tight she held Vergil's hand and quickly let go of it frantically. "O-Oh, I'm sorry!"

Vergil chuckled as he said, "Don't be." He took a deep breath to return to his callous stern self as he spoke; "Now. This only a rumor, but I've heard that your father is in league with an undercover cult that has a sole purpose to destroy big business from "controlling" people's lives. Such as DOATEC, so to speak."

" DOATEC? That's Helena's organization." Mila spoke out. "So, would that mean Christie's also part of that group my father's in?"

"I doubt it. This Christie seems to be working for someone else." Vergil pondered.

"Donavan." Mila said bitterly, "He's the reason for this. Because of him, Helena's hurt, and I can't do a thing to help."

"Don't worry. You've done plenty." Vergil said, "Now continuing with your father."

"Oh, sorry." Mila said, "Continue."

"As I was saying, your father is a sort of freedom fighter against the establishments that have a high stature in the business world. The reasons for his joining is still unknown, but it's highly speculated that it had something to do with the recent tournament of DOATEC three years ago."

"That's right! There was a tournament three years ago." Mila remembered, "And there was an explosion in the main building as well, and the tournament was pretty much canceled."

"It was canceled because of an attack on the building itself." Vergil said, "Don't worry though. It had nothing to do with your father or the organization he's now in; however there were some specified past battings between the past DOATEC president, Donovan, and the leader of this group."

"Who's the leader?" Mila asked.

"I don't know. That's just one of the questions I'm trying to find an answer to." Vergil explained. "But back to your father, I don't know specifically why he joined or what it had to do with the DOA tournament in itself, but I do know this much." He took a deep breath and answered, "Your father use to work specifically for Donovan."

Mila was absolutely devastated to hear that. Her own father? Working for such a man as Donovan? Such a thought couldn't even fathom in her mind! She couldn't accept that he use to work for him at all…but for some strange reason, she wasn't too surprised about such news. In a way, it was the answer she feared wouldn't be true deep in her mind.

"S-So…my father worked for Donovan?" Mila said heart broken by it still.

"Correction; he _did _work for Donovan." Vergil corrected, as he continued walking forward with Mila following him, "Now he's part of these freedom fighters, whose sole purpose is to cause destruction of bigger businesses…it's funny…we're a lot alike."

"We? You mean your group called "The Order", right?"

"Yes. We too want to break the hold on the people. However, as you've already guessed, our rebellion is against a darker force then higher anarchies as businesses."

"You mean the demons." Mila understood.

"Precisely." Vergil said "Now enough about that for a bit. Do you have any more questions?"

"For now, just one." Mila said, "Why would you help me?"

"You see the demons. You come in contact with them." Vergil explained, "Only…people like me, and my brother can be able to phase into the demon realm. Yet, you, Ms. Helena Douglas, and many others around the world can also phase into the demon realm as well. I want a human who's experienced this to do research."

"Why not ask that ninja guy then?" Mila brought up. "He's human…I think."

"Yes, Ryu is human." Vergil said. He also held a small smile on his face, "I must admit; humans are quite something. Ryu Hayabusa is proof of that. To be only human and perform feats beyond human capabilities is astounding. It almost makes me believe that humans would be able to truly fight the demons if such a time demons appeared to them…almost."

"Well humans can be just as strong as those demons." Mila said confidently, "I myself have fought a demon or two."

"Really?" Vergil said, "Was it a weak one…or a full blooded creature that will kill without warning?"

Mila had nothing to say to that. She had fought a smaller one that was her size…but compared to the one she saw in New York…she wondered if humans really could take care of themselves if demon ever broke free. The thought worried her.

However her thoughts were interrupted by the sudden arrival into another smaller room with hanging lights dangling from above. All of them shined down to the middle of the entire room where layed out on an examining table was the blond French woman, Helena. She was still unconscious, but seemed to be less pale in the light. On the side of that table was another female who looked as though she was doing something with Helena's arm. The girl felt Helena's palm with a single tattooed finger and slowly traced it to Helena's veins on her wrist to test for a pulse.

"Um…excuse me." Mila asked meekly.

The girl stopped her examining and slowly placed Helena's hand down, to look over her shoulder and see Mila, and Vergil had entered the room.

"O-Oh. Hello." The girl said politely as she turned around and placed her hands behind her.

Mila got a good look at the girl to see she had her black blue hoodie over her head so she couldn't see much of her face, but she did notice her firm lips and dark brown bangs falling onto her shoulders. She also wore denim shorts that seemed a bit too short for her age (though not short enough to show anything revealing) and black boots were donned on her feet as well.

"Mila, this is Kat." Vergil introduced, "She's a physic, and the wiccan doctor for our organization."

"It's nice to meet you, Ms. Mila Rodriguez." Kat bowed.

"Oh, you too." Mila replied with a bow.

"Well I'll let you two get acquainted." Vergil said turning on the heel, "I've got more research to do."

"But wait, I still have more questions!" Mila quickly turned to say.

"And they will be answered in a later time." Vergil answered with his back to her. "There's much for me to do. Besides…" He looked over his shoulder with a smile as he said, "You look as though you could use a fellow female to talk to…goodbye for now."Vergil walked out of the room, and only left an awkward silence between the hooded girl named Kat and Mila herself. Neither really moved much apart from Kat dropping her hands to her sides. Other than that, both were just standing there, turning their attention to other things or just fidgeting their fingers.

Finally, Mila decided to say "So um…how's Helena gonna be?"

"O-Oh, she'll be fine…" Kat answered quickly, "So..um…Vergil said that you met Dante…right?"

"Oh, yeah I did." Mila nodded.

"Well…tell me what he's like."

_**KYOTO **_

_**KOKORO'S HOME**_

_**3:04 A.M.**_

The city slept in the night filled with stars in the sky as the moon shined its half glow upon the historically preserved city streets. Deep within the home that stood as the most wealthiest in Kyoto, the Dante and Kasumi were fast asleep within spare rooms that had a great view of Kyoto, while Kokoro was asleep in her own room. However, though everyone was enjoying their peace with the rest and drifting off to the dream realm in their minds, one female couldn't exactly travel to such a place so easily. Especially with something troubling on her mind on top of that.

"Why…? I can't believe I was going to lie to him…how could I…?" The woman said, clutching her robes tightly. "Damnit…I just need more time…that's all I—"

"Miyako-san."

Miyako was startled by the sudden appearance of someone from the shadows of the corner of her dark room that she whirled around and kept her distance from the corner of that wall in caution.

"Who's there?-!" Miyako ordered in Japanese, "_Jibun o Miseru_! "

Slowly from the silhouetted darkness of the shadows, a figure walked out of the darkness and into the half-lit light of the sun through the opened window. A small breeze rolled into the room as the girl's orange hair and knight gown slightly fly in the small wind, making her hands calm both.

"K-Kasumi-san!" Miyako exclaimed, "What are you doing in here?-!"

"Never mind that for the moment." Kasumi said sternly with a matching expression. "What matters now is the part you play in all this, and your reasons."

"Reasons? Part? What are you talking about?" Miyako said confusingly.

"Simple; why did you lie to Dante?" Kasumi questioned.

"W-What?"

"Admit it. Dante doesn't have meningitis and you know it." Kasumi interrogated, "Meningitis is a human infection, and Dante's not human. And don't even think about playing dumb with me, because I know full well that you knew his mother more then you were going to tell him. Am I right?"

Miyako held a shocked expression on her face, before finally dropping her charade and donning a more callous look in her eyes. "Humph. You ninja do always poke your noses into other's business." Miyako said bitterly, "Okay fine, I'll admit I was lying to Dante, but you and I both know that he must not know of his family! Both mother and father must be kept shrouded from him! Besides, I thought you yourself wanted it this way. Dante not knowing who he is so that he can be wrapped around your little finger."

"What I'm doing is for the greater good. I must keep Dante with me until I can find Alpha." Kasumi said, "That's all that matters to me. And if protecting your daughter can give me more of a lead to finding her, then I'll keep a sharp eye on Kokoro-san post-haste."

"Alpha?" Miyako questioned, "Who is this Alpha you—?"

"I said don't play dumb!" Kasumi exclaimed as she slipped from the folds of her gown, a small kunai knife and swiftly threw it towards the robed woman! However, the kunai's path was altered and it was suddenly sent right into the wall with a small thud of the blade piercing through.

Kasumi stood surprised at what had just happened! She was sure that the knife was aimed right at Miyako, but…it seemed like something got in the way and changed the trajectory of the knife. Kasumi looked cautiously towards Miyako. "You…! What did you—?"

"It's only natural. For I am a 13th generation martial artist of the Ba Ji Quan." Miyako confirmed, "However, I have went through…"_adjustments_" as appose to my daughter."

"Adjustments…?"

"Correct. Taken right from the very thing you seek to destroy." Miyako said dastardly. "Yes…Alpha's blood flows through me."

Kasumi looked at Miyako in absolute discuss and anger that she would do something like that to herself. She couldn't help but want to grab another kunai and lodge it right into her neck once and for all. Her hands trembled into a fist, and her eyes darted right at the mother with an intense stare towards her.

"You…! You monster!" Kasumi exclaimed, "You have a daughter for God sake! Think about her! You possessing this power could put both you and her in danger!"

"Don't worry. My daughter knows nothing of this at all, nor will any harm come to her." Miyako said stone-faced into a stern expression. "So long as you say nothing of the sort to Dante, or Kokoro."

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me correctly." Miyako explained, "You will not say a word of this power to neither Kokoro nor Dante. This secret stays between you and I. And in return I promise to not go into detail of Dante's true life, and thus keeping him under your leash. Sounds fair enough correct? After all, you do need him correct?" She then smiled quite wickedly upon her next sentence seeping off her lips, "He is after all, the key to your objective, is he not?"

Kasumi was at a lost for disagreeing. She needed Dante to, as ashamed to admit it as she was, be obedient to her whim, otherwise he'll go off on his own and she'll have to find another way to release Alpha to defeat her. In the end Kasumi had no other choice in the matter, and frankly not enough resources to be able to rely on. It was either this, or nothing.

She dropped her fists, and sighed in defeat; "Yes…okay then. It's a deal."

"I knew you'd see things my wa—"

"However…" Kasumi then quickly walked to Miyako and stood before her, face to face in an intimidating way. Her eyes pierced into the black haired mother's cold eyes as Kasumi's words were spoken; "…you will not lay a finger on Dante or tell Donovan he's here. And I won't let slip that you're a monster to Kokoro. Seems like a simple trade." She grabbed her kunai, and forced it off the wall while still staring at Miyako eye-to-eye. "So, is it a deal?"

Miyako did not waver upon the copper haired ninja's burning gaze, nor was she frightened of the knife in this ninja's hand either. To be honest, she was rather excited to be in the presence of such passion and fire burning all in one stare. It had been so long since she herself had such vigor in quite some time, and to see it in such a strong girl as Kasumi made her feel quite good inside. Like she's known her for years and can see herself in her. However Miyako realized that these could just be early signs of the side effects from being injected with Alpha's blood. Since Alpha was Kasumi's twin, it was only natural of the strange connection.

Even so, Miyako smiled contently and strolled from Kasumi's glance and simply said, "Very well. We have a deal." She then opened the door to her room, and showed her the way out. "If you don't mind, I'd like to go to bed."

Kasumi nodded, "_Shitsurei._" And with that, Kasumi finally left her room with one last glance towards her as she stepped out. The door slowly closed behind her, as she stood in the hallway, contemplating her next move. Things were getting more and more complicated for her to figure out so soon that she felt as if she'd never be able to figure this all out so soon.

"I must act quickly…" Kasumi muttered, "Too much is standing in my way…"


	11. 11: the Game Begins

**Hey everyone! Alito here! So, I've been checking out DmC now that I've finally gotten my hands on the game, and I'm really having a blast on that and haven't really taken into consideration as to any other weapons he could be using. But those probably won't come till later. So you guys are to take a vote as to what kind of weapons he should have later on.**

**Alright, here we go!**

***DISCLAIMER* I own nothing.**

**Chapter 11: The Game Begins**

* * *

_**KYOTO**_

_**23:34 p.m.**_

The slight breeze of the night carried a small wave of peace upon the copper haired konoichi. She stared up at the half full moon in deep thought of what to do now. Miyako was questionable to trust and if she lets anything slip, Dante would be even hungrier for answers, and she needed to keep him on his diet of appetizer info.

Then Dante came to mind. She hated what she was doing to him, and hated that she has to keep him in constant torture to finding out whom he truly is and who his family really is as well. If she could, she would gladly tell Dante all he wants to know and fill what ails him with sorrow. But Kasumi worried that she would lose him if she revealed everything she had in store for him. Plus, Dante's a very important part of Donovan's plans; she couldn't let Donovan get his hands on Dante.

With all that was wrapped in her mind, she was even starting to forget about her own family. Even though they did banish her from the village, there was still her older brother that she cared about. Hell, even Ayane was an important person to her. She couldn't let them get involved in the plans she's conducting.

"What will I do now…?" Kasumi mumbled to herself. "It's all…getting complicated." She looked down to the streets, trying to find some way to reorganize all this madness occurring to her. "I fear…I'm losing myself…and…I can't find my way…"

"Then you can walk down the path of death."

Kasumi's heart instantly dropped upon the voice suddenly speaking behind her. She quickly looked over her shoulder and saw the sight of an old face she hasn't seen in a while. All though she didn't want to see her after what was said back at Helena's ship, she desperately didn't want to see her while both were alone.

"Ayane…" Kasumi said solemnly. Kasumi noticed that Ayane was dressed in her black ninja garbs and headband, meaning she must have been doing a job assigned to her. But that wasn't the very first thing that Kasumi noticed. No, what she noticed was the anger and betrayal in her younger sister's red eyes with the burning flame of revenge practically glowing all around her. "…What're you doing here?"

"Don't you dare play dumb with me." Ayane said with a dangerously aggressive tone "You know exactly why I'm here…!"

"Really." Kasumi said dryly as she continued to look ahead of her, and away from the purple haired konoichi, "Then you've wasted your time. I'm not going to fight you. I've got enough worries on my mind."

Ayane could not believe what she was hearing! Was Kasumi giving _her _sass? That just couldn't be! Kasumi would never be so disrespectful like that. Even though she was banished from the village and was Ayane's enemy now, Kasumi never showed rudeness towards Ayane…until now.

"H-How dare you?-!" Ayane exclaimed. "You have no right to talk to me in such a way! You're lucky I don't—!"

"—By the way…" Kasumi intervened without even turning her head, which set Ayane off even more. "…you should be thanking Dante."

Ayane's anger dropped a bit as she heard an unfamiliar name and the word _saved you_ in the same sentence. "Who?"

"Dante. He saved you from that giant demon in New York." Kasumi reminded her as she finally looked over her shoulder to her younger sister, "He saved your life you know. You should somehow tell him thank you. But don't tell him I'm your sister."

"I'd rather that be true. And wait a minute, why should I thank him? All he did was dishonor me." Ayane pompously said, "A shinobi must always put his/her life on the line to complete a mission. If I were to die right there then that would be the testament of how far I've come as a konoichi. Of course, I wouldn't expect someone like you to understand honor since you—"

"Stop." Kasumi said sternly as she finally turned around to face her younger half sister. Ayane was actually caught off guard at the very stern and demanding expression she wore on her face and the sheer strictness of her eyes that seemed to look down on her.

"You see? That. Right there. Is following the shinobi way really the only road that you can follow? Is taking every word of the Mugen Tenshin clan's ninjitsu teachings the only destined path you can take?" Kasumi slowly waked to her sister as Ayane was actually starting to inch away from her. "Wake up, Ayane. The ninjitsu way isn't the only way that we can live." Kasumi then placed her hand on her chest, "If I continued such a path long ago, our brother would still be lost to this day or even dead." Finally Kasumi was close enough to Ayane to grasp her shoulders and look Ayane in the eyes. "But no. He's very much alive and is now the next leader of the Mugen Tenshin village from what I've guessed. But he wouldn't even be where he is if I hadn't done my best to find him. I followed my own way and it turned out to be right!" Kasumi was becoming more and more emotional as her voice even rose. "But you and the higher elders of the village can't understand! I did what I did for honor! But yet you still see me as a threat! Why? Is it because of our past? Is that it? I don't care what others say, you're not—!"

Ayane couldn't stand to hear anymore. She quickly pushed Kasumi's hands off her shoulders and took a few steps away from her half sister. Ayane deep down knew what Kasumi was going to say. She was going to bring up a dark and painful memory that Ayane didn't want to dig back up again. Ayane thought that Kasumi would never bring back such a horrible memory to light ever again…but she did. And it hurt the purple haired sibling deeply. Even if she was a traitor of the village, Ayane didn't think Kasumi would be that cruel.

"Ayane…?"

Ayane said nothing. She looked down in grief and didn't even move a muscle to attack or anything.

"Ayane, what's—?"

"You've changed…"

Ayane finally looked up at her older sister, only for Kasumi to see something slowly trace down Ayane's smooth cheeks…a tear; and soon more poured out of her eye lids and off her chin. But even so, anger still filled the Konoichi's eyes. "You're not the Kasumi I knew…You're not…" She couldn't believe that she would utter such words to such a traitor as Kasumi…but she did; "You're...You're not my sister…"

And with that, Ayane ran off from her and leaped across the rooftops of the Kyoto city, slowly disappearing from Kasumi's sight.

Kasumi didn't chase after her, nor did she try to call after her…she simply stood there, and watched as her dear sister faded from her sight into the darkness of the city. Kasumi clutched her chest in slight pain as she was now on the other side of the betrayal.

"Ayane…I now know how you feel…It's too bad you couldn't feel my pain…"

_**UNKNOWN**_

"..."

"...te..."

"Dante…"

"Dante…"

The one named Dante slowly awoken to the sight of the sun glaring brightly into his face. He was laid out in the back of a car, and blocking the sun from his eyes. He slowly sat up in the moving car and looked to the driver's seat to see someone driving it. For some odd reason he couldn't see her face as if it were shrouded in the sunlight and he was unable to get a good sight of who this woman was.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Did I wake you, sweetie?"

Dante shaked his head. "No. I'm up." He said in a tired voice but still smiled. "Are we there yet?"

"Soon." The voice said, "Now, do you remember your pronunciation of the language?"

"Um-hm. I know." Dante said as he tried to recall all that was taught to him so suddenly. He didn't even realize he could actually see all these words before. It's as if the language was so clear that he could carry on a complete conversation. It was amazing where all this knowledge of the language came from, and frankly, was a bit scary as well.

"Good. We'll be there shortly." The voice said as she looked up at the rear-view mirror with a smile. "For now, just rest until we get there."

Dante yawned "Okay…" He then laid back down as his eyes shut soundly.

"See you later… mom..."

Dante bolted up from his bead and sat up with a loud gasp of air! He broke out in a cold sweat as he clutched his chest greatly to stop his beating heart from increasing. His pants filled the dark guest room and his eyes darted all around the room for anything.

"A…A dream…?" Dante mumbled. He slowly looked towards the window to see the blinds had been shut and the sun trying to peak through the slits of them. He grasped his head to try and get a handle on his mind from wandering all over that strange dream. But no matter how tight he grasped his forehead, the dream was a fresh stapled note in his head that would never be removed no matter how hard he, figuratively, pulls. For those words to utter out of his mouth…the very mouth of a boy whom he thought he'd never here say that word…but he did.

"_My…mother…_" Dante thought, "_I said…mom didn't I…? Was that…was that really her…?_"

"Mmm, Ohayō gozaimasu…"

"Oh…good morn—huh?"

Dante was almost about to say a greeting to the tired female voice that said good morning to him, however at that very instant, two things crossed his mind; one: He actually understood that word even though it was in Japanese and was even about to say a reply to it as well! And two…the voice came from his bed?

Dante quickly turned his head to the side of his bed, only to find a very large surprise lying in this bed with him; he would have been captivated by her smooth peached skin and her raven black hair caressing her cheek, and even her tired eyes fluttering to stay open as she lifted herself up with one hand and her other wiping the sand out of her eye. Her white long white buttoned up shirt acted as a night gown as it slowly slipped off of her shoulder, revealing a small amount of her mound visible, while she sat on the shins of her knees, allowing a good view of the light green panties she wore.

"Oh. Its morning already…" The girl said as she looked around. "I guess…I…should…" She looked more and more around the room only to not see her stuffed animals, or her laptop or even her drawer anywhere in sight. All she saw was a single desk, and brown unfamiliar drawer and a closet that had male clothing in it. "W-What…?"

"You know if you wanted to sneak into my bed, all ya had to do was ask."

Kokoro quickly shot her head at the voice behind her only to catch a glimpse of impressive abs and chest, along with a patch of black hair on the top of the male's head. She was stagnant at first of what was happening right now, but she quickly regained common sense and exclaimed; "O-OH MY GOD!-!" She quickly grabbed Dante's covers of his bed and jumped out of his bed while wrapping the covers around her! "W-W-W-Why was I in your be—?-!"

Her words halted in her throat at the sight of something else; something that she didn't want to see until she became the proper adult age, and more of Dante then she actually wanted to see right away.

"W-Why are you naked?-!" She exclaimed as she covered her eyes and her face going red. "Oh my God! That means I slept with you…a-and…! And you were—?-!"

"—Dante. Are you up yet?" Said a voice as she opened the door. "I was told by Miyako-san to…wake…you…"

Kasumi couldn't fathom the very words anymore, and could only stand there and behold the misunderstood image in front of her. And to make matters worse, Dante was laid out on his bead with no clothes on while Kokoro was covering herself with a blanket, but Kasumi could obviously see she was wearing a large dress shirt that hardly passed her thighs.

"U-Um…" Kokoro tried to speak, but she couldn't think of the proper words to actually say.

"Um…It's not what it looks like…?" Dante said slowly and unsure.

Kasumi's face dropped into a deadpan expression as she simply said dryly, "Sorry for disturbing you." and closed the door behind her.

"K-Kasumi-san! Wait, it's not what you think!" Kokoro pleaded as she ran out of the room and tried to convince her that it was a misunderstanding. Meanwhile Dante simply sat there on his uncovered bed, in his birthday suit, with a confused and exhausted expression on his face.

He sighed deeply as he made his feet hit the floor and him crouching his head down to scratch his black hair. "This is gonna one of those days…"

_**KOKORO'S HOUSE; DINING ROOM**_

_**KYOTO**_

_**5:54 A.M. **_

The dining room was probably something that you'd find in a catalog for luxurious dining rooms. It had a long table with a silk cloth covering the whole table, the most expensive of cutlery utensils, and a full view of the outer streets of Kyoto behind the black gates.

There was only Dante, Kasumi, Kokoro, and Miyako who sat at this table. Kasumi and Kokoro wore the female version of Nichisora High school's uniforms of a light yellow sweater over a white school shirt and a black tie, a plaid black and red pleated skirt, long black socks, and brown school shoes.

Dante, on the other hand, wore the male version of the Nichisora school uniform that consist of a white school shirt that wasn't tucked in, a long black tie, black long pants, and his own black shoes. He wore wrist bands on his wrist and rolled up the jacket sleeves as well.

Though they were all eating, everyone was completely silent as they ate breakfast prepared by the chief, who was now on break. Kasumi was too preoccupied with the events of last night. The untimely appearance of her half sister Ayane was the last thing she needed, and to make matters worse she now hates her in a different fashion; a fashion that tore at Kasumi more than her seeking revenge on the copper haired konoichi. But she had to wipe those thoughts out of her head as she had a more pressing matter to deal with; Keeping a stern and slightly observing eye on Miyako. She didn't trust Miyako as much as she intentionally thought she could and frankly, she didn't like sitting with a potential enemy right in front of her. However, she simply sipped her tea and kept herself at bay…for now.

Dante noticed Kasumi wear a vexed expression and naturally assumed it was because of what she saw earlier. But then he saw that this stink eye was pointed directly at Miyako, whom didn't seem to give it any attention at all and simply continued eating her breakfast. Dante cocked an eye brow, curious as to why Kasumi held such eyes for the kimono wearing mother all of a sudden? Something must have happened last night that he was a sleep to notice. And thinking of last night, Dante was forced to remember that dream he had. What was the purpose of it, and why is it still so fresh in his mind? To think that he'd actually met his mother in his dreams, and though he couldn't see her face, it was still a nice thought.

Kokoro was too busy making small glances at Dante. She couldn't help herself at how alluring Dante suddenly looked in a school uniform. She had always wondered how Dante would fit her uniforms for males, and her dream actually came true. Though she knew she had to focus and remember why Dante was here in the first place, that didn't mean she couldn't admire him in her thoughts.

"So then," Miyako said in a chipper mood which startled everyone so suddenly. "You all seem tired today. Rough night sleeping?"

"Y-You could say that…" Kokoro said meekly and turning red.

"No. I'm perfectly fine." Kasumi said coolly in Japanese as she sipped her tea, "But it appears you might be having trouble sleeping. I don't mean to impose but it appears that the wrinkles under your eyes have become black."

"Kasumi-san!" Kokoro outraged.

"It's alright, dear." Miyako assured her with a smile, "I don't mind it. Thank you for the noting. I'll make sure to keep it in mind when I look in the mirror the next time."

"You should. A beautiful woman such as yourself must always look radiant." Kasumi said with a smile, "You know, for your age and all."

"Oooh, that's gotta hurt doesn't it?"

"Yes, well I'm not one to let such a burden of words…stop…wait a minute." Miyako quickly turned back to Dante in absolute shock, "D-Dante…you …! You understood that?"

It had just hit the other girls that Dante had just replied to a comment in Japanese, and all had the same expressions as Miyako had astonishment and mouths agaped.

"Wait…I did?" Dante said with astonishment himself as he jumped up from his chair! "Holy shit…I did! I understood that!"

"T-Then…! You can speak Japanese now?-!' Kokoro exclaimed with both joy and amazement as she too jumped out of her seat. "That's great! You can speak Japanese just like when we were kids!"

"Uh, yeah. Guess I can." Dante said in amazement in himself, "When the hell could that have happened?"

"It must have been from you having a good night's rest for the first time in a while." Miyako said to Dante, "Meningitis may bury the memories, but doesn't destroy them. They just needed to be regained through either familiar moments of your past life…"

"…or having dreams." Dante finished in realization, "Whoa. So that's why…" Dante then grew a grin and said, "That's badass! I can speak Japanese now!"

"That's great!" Kokoro said with equal happiness. "So what will you do now?-!"

"Talk dirty to Japanese chicks!"

Kasumi could only face palm at that comment. "How did I know he'd say that…" Though Kasumi mumbled this, her nerves became filled with anxiety all over. Now that Dante was able to understand and possibly speak Japanese, he was bound to remember the conversation her and Kokoro said during their time in Limbo. Dante was also suspicious of a lot of other conversations, and will start to dig deeper into Kasumi's mind for info. She knew now that she had to be on her toes about what she says around him. One slip up could in danger her plans to find ALPHA.

Dante however was just happy that he could speak Japanese. He's never been one to waste time and take a class. (Not like he could with all the demon hunting he has to do.) However, it did feel weird to suddenly know an entire language all from a good night sleep. And if what Miyako said was true about meningitis erasing memories but a person will regain them at some point, then he must have been a pretty smart kid back then. But now, he can use this new skill to his advantage. He may have said that he was going to use it to talk dirty in Japanese, but in actuality he was going to use such an opportunity to translate some of what Kasumi says and be able to pick up on what she's hiding. "_Better not make her think I'm bein' observant._" Dante thought with a smirk to himself, "_You think I don't know what you're doin' ninja girl. Keepin' me on a leash is just gonna get you bitten._"

"Ah! Look at the time!" Kokoro noted, pointing at the clock on the wall. It was six minutes past six. "School starts at 7:20! We have to get to the bullet train now!"

"What?-! Aw, come on!" Dante groaned, "I just learned a new language!"

"Practice as we go." Kasumi suggested as she stood up to get her school bag from her seat. "See if you can read Japanese as well as say it."

"Yeah, alright." Dante shrugged as he grabbed his school bag and stood up from the table, "Hell, maybe I'll see a sexy lil thing while we get to school."

"_Wait! What am I then?-!_" Kokoro exclaimed in her thoughts, but then blushed at the fact that she was mad that Dante didn't think of her as sexy. She shaked her head to forget about that and grabbed her new pair of glasses and bag. She turned to her mother and bowed, "Ja-ne, Oka-san!"

Miyako nodded, "Chūi shite kudasai, Kokoro, Kasumi-san, Dante."

"Mata o." Kasumi said rather kindly, but with a small tone of agitation. The others may not have noticed it but Kasumi could have sworn that Miyako said Kasumi's name with a slight dastardly way.

"Atode." Dante waved with two fingers, and then said in English. "God, I love this shit!" And with that, all three of them walked out of the dining room and off to school in Tokyo. After Miyako had heard the door shut, she gripped the tea cup tightly. Her grip on it was so tight that the cup's handle was starting to crack under such pressure.

"This is not good." Miyako mumbled in her native tongue. "If he continues to remember…he'll realize what he truly is…and that could be bad for us."

_**JAPAN**_

_**UNKNOWN LOCATION**_

_**6:25 A.M. **_

"…And that's all I know about him."

Mila had just finished telling her hooded companion about the black haired demon killer while they sat at a table in the hooded girl's very room. It was like that of any normal teenage girl's room, except there were strange pentagrams placed on the walls, and there were no windows anywhere. The light above them was light enough for them to see, and the bed was on the side of the wall. They were sitting on the floor with a small table as they drank coffee.

Mila had gotten all washed up and was wearing a T-shirt, over a plaid blue unbuttoned shirt with the sleeves rolled up, stylized cut up jeans, and tennis shoes; while Kat wore a light dark grey hoodie with cat ears on the head of the hood, a black pair of shorts, and long combat boots.

"I see…" Kat nodded. "Wow. So that's what Dante's like. Kinda scary."

"Oh don't worry." Mila assured her, "He's not all that bad. In fact, I think deep down he's just an old softy."

"That part of him must be really deep inside of him." Kat said with a small giggle.

"Yeah, maybe." Mila chuckled, "But he is a good guy. He's helped me so much during the demon attacks. Though he can be a bit rough around the edges."

"Well if it makes you feel better, Vergil's not so different." Kat said after sipping some of her coffee, "He can be pretty…cynical when it comes to DCI."

"DCI?" eyed Mila in question.

"Demon Collaborator Interrogations." Kat answered.

"Demon…Collaborators…? What are those?" Mila asked before taking a drink of her coffee.

"They're humans who have sided with the demons and have become…their slaves." Mila noticed that upon explaining what the collaborators were, Kat seemed to pause in an almost frightened way. Kat's hands gripped the Styrofoam cup tightly as her fingers trembled nervously. "I-I'm sorry. It's just…Well I've always been scared that…W-What if that happens to me…? I've been out in Limbo long before Vergil found me, but…even now I'm still a bit frightened to go back out there for recognizance…"

Such a delicate and poor girl. She's had to deal with the demons and their ill torture for years. And this was even while she was on her own. What good can come for her the more she has to suffer at the sight of those damned demons. It wasn't right at all in Mila's eyes to let such an obvious scared girl go out and do recognizance when there are demons in the shadows…Mila couldn't let that go at all.

"Well…maybe you don't have to be alone."

Kat looked up at Mila in curiosity. Mila placed her cup on the table and stood up with confidence in her tone. "You and I will do the recognizance together. You know what they say; two sets of eyes are better than one."

"Yeah, but what about you?" Kat said frantically getting up, "I-I mean the demons—!"

"Relax~." Mila said with a wave and smile, "I think I can handle it. I've fought demons too, Y'know. And f any of them even dares to mess with you, they'll have to mess with me too. That's how we do it in NY."

Kat thought about it for a second. Could she really allow such a woman to go with her? Kat didn't even know how much experience this red haired woman had in dealing with demons. But for her to have survived this long while being taken into Limbo before must say a lot about her bravery and skill at surviving. Plus, she could always use a friend to ease the tension and awkward silence.

"Well…I guess you can." Kat figured.

"Yes! Looks like you and I are partners." Mila smiled as she offered a hand. "Putter there!"

Kat was hesitant at first and was about to turn away from it, but instead decided she didn't want to be rude and with that, grabbed her hand firmly and shook on it. Kat could feel a warm feeling in her chest at the touch of Mila's hand. It was a strong, courageous, and fiery spirit burning inside her, begging to let her adrenaline be set free. And the only relief is to go and do her recognizance, but this time with confidence she will survive. Kat smiled a bit more credence in herself and said; "Okay. Let's do our best…partner."

"I see you're ready to go."

Both turned to the entrance of Kat's door to find Vergil standing there. He was dressed in a simple black coat over a black wool vest, black slacks and matching black shoes. In his hand was his katana as well as usual hand even his hair slicked back in its normal fashion as usual. Mila always did admire Vergil's obligation to dress sharply.

"Oh, Vergil." Kat said attentively as she placed her hands behind her back. "I'm all set."

"Good." Vergil nodded.

"And I'm going with her." Mila announced.

"Really? Are you sure you can handle this?" Vergil felt he needed to ask, "Kat's job isn't easy. She has to be on the lookout for demons while wiring CCTV cameras of the order, mapping new traps for demons to fall into, and situating allocations of higher level demons and putting those areas as "off limit" zones."

"No sweat." Mila smiled, "I can handle the smaller demons that come after Kat, while she does her thing. I'll be her body guard while she takes care of business."

Vergil, like Kat, thought on this idea, but unlike Kat, it didn't take long for Vergil to come to his decision; "Alright then. You can go. But only after you get properly equipped; demons get stronger every day."

"Well so do I." Mila said with a pound of her chest, "Leave it to me."

Vergil nodded, "Very well. Come. We'll need to go to the briefing room for a proper course. Ryu is waiting there as well."

"And Helena?" Mila asked.

"She's stable." Vergil assured her with a smile, "You should thank Kat for that."

Mila looked towards Kat, who was turning beat red at the praise from Vergil. Mila saw this and couldn't help but grow a smile on her face and giggle to herself.

"_She's got it bad._" Mila thought.

_**TOKYO**_

_**CLOSE TO NICHISORA HIGH SCHOOL**_

_**7:10 A.M. **_

"Come on, guys! We're almost late!" Kokoro called as all three were running through the city of Tokyo to get to the school. As of now, they were running across a long pathway that had a beautiful view of the ocean and the other side of Tokyo's large cities; including a large Ferris wheel that wasn't turning possibly due to it being morning. "We need to hurry!"

"Jeez, I feel like we've been runnin' for hours!" Dante called irritably, "How much further?"

"Not too far! Just keep running!" Kokoro assured them.

"Looks like we don't have any other choice!" Kasumi said, "After all, this is what Helena asked us to do!"

"Yeah, but still I would've thought there'd be more action involved in my life! Not just runnin' like chickens with their heads cut off to some school!" Dante complained.

"Well, you can just—!"

"Wait!"

Dante stopped running and by logic, so did Kasumi and Kokoro as well. They looked at Dante who seemed to have a troubled expression on his face. He slowly looked around, staring at the other citizens who mind their own business and were walking to their own destinations. Though they were bliss to it, Dante, Kasumi, and Kokoro could all feel it as chilling as winter. The menacing chill was enough to make Kokoro shiver and Kasumi vigilant. Dante however continued o scoped the area and kept a sharp eye out for anything.

"What is it?" Kasumi whispered to Dante. "Limbo again?"

"Somethin' like that." Dante said.

Suddenly, the strange chill grew colder as all of a sudden, the world had a strange distortion about it to their eyes. The world looked as though it was rumbling as all the humans walking the streets suddenly vanished into black mist. The city afar was tearing itself apart from the ground and stood stationary within the air. Different parts of buildings pulled out and the world seemed more colored and full of life…evil life to be exact. The skies rushed by in the sky, though night did not come as the sun still stayed in its proper place.

"Not now!" Kasumi hissed as she reached into her bag for her wakizashi.

"It's this crazy world again!" Kokoro noted as she looked around cautiously at the buildings breaking apart right before her eyes.

"Heh, well that's alright." Dante smirked as his sword rebellion appeared on his back, and he grabbed his guns, Ebony 7 Ivory from his waist. "Early mornin' demon killin' is just the stretch I need."

And speak of the devil, or devils, demons did appear before them. However this time they were pure black in color but humanoid as well. Their skin was like that of black magma melted to black with the true fire still within them. Their faces were that of nose less stoned faces of statues but they were very much moving and their glowing eyes made evidence of that. At least nine of them appeared before the three as they shrieked and their hands became giant black magma'd fist ready to bugler anyone in their way, growling hungrily.

"Speak of the devils, here's my work out buddies now." Dante said arrogantly.

"We don't have time for this!" Kokoro sighed as she removed her glasses so as to not break them. "We must kill these demons before school bell rings."

"I don't think school is the most important thing we have to worry about right now." Kasumi said as she prepared to battle with her wakizashi.

"When did life become an anime all of a sudden?" Dante questioned as he and the girls dropped their bags simultaneously and ran at the demons, wanting to get the fights over with so that they can get to class!

Kokoro was the first to strike as she quickly did a flying kick into one of the demon's head and knocked back as she back flipped off the kick and landed. She then dodged one of the fists that flew at her and turned to face that demon. From there she palm striked each point of that demons body's torso, and made it stagger from the swift assault so she could focus back on the one she kicked. She preformed the same palm attacking combo and finished it with a powerful elbow strike to push it back. She returned to the other and did an uppercut palm strike, which was strong enough to hit its head clean off its body and kill it into black dust. Finally she turned to the last one and chopped it on the shoulder to let her slide it across its shoulder to slap its head off its body as well. Both disappeared as she bowed, "If I'm late, I won't forgive you demons."

Kasumi ran at hers and leaped into the air into the air and preformed a drill kick into one of the demon's head, and let it fall flat on its back with her on top of it. From there, Kasumi spun one in a single quick motion and her wakizashi out but upon looking at the demons their heads slowly slid off their bodies and fell to the ground to dust along with their bodies. Kasumi then looked down at the last one who happened to be enjoying the view from where he laid. Kasumi scoffed and slammed her foot into the demons face, crushing it and making it finish from under her. "I hate eechi people."

Dante ran at the demons as he shot at them, making sure to hit every one of them that he had in a small crowd. "Bring it in, boys and girls!" Dante said cockily as he put his guns on his waist and grabbed rebellion to hack away at each one with brute strength but a style of his own. He then uppercut his sword to send a bunch of them into the air at the same time, and from there threw his sword into the sky, grabbed his guns and spun up to the demons while shooting at them, ala inverse rainstorm. And finally, he jumped off of one of them and reached for the sky to get his sword, only to slam it down on the group and slam them all to the ground in a heavy crater-creaking helm breaker. All the demons vanished into black smoke upon his landing and he put rebellion on his back again. "Smokin'."

The three regrouped and saw that they all at least made it out of their fights in one piece.

"Are we all good?" Dante asked.

"No problem!" Kokoro said with a confident smile. "Though my hands kinda hurt from hitting rock, I'd say I'm all good!"

"Alright then." Kasumi observed, "Now that these follies are disposed of, where might the leader of them all be hiding?"

"Dunno. He could be anywhere." Dante looked around.

"Well he's gotta be close since he's brought the demons to us." Kokoro noted, "but the question is…where?"

"Right here, babe."

All of them quickly turned over to behind Dante, only to find…no one. No one was there at all besides dark mist of the humans in the human realm.

"The hell?" Dante said as he turned back to the other girls. "There's no one—" Before he could fully confirm that statement, he had seen before him, Kokoro being held captive by a set of hands; one hand with a blade by her neck, and the other grasping her left mound tightly. The pain was too great for Kokoro to take as she winced at how awful his hands felt, and also frightened at how he was able to appear behind them all so quickly and hold her for capture.

"Kokoro!" Dante exclaimed as he grabbed his guns. "You bastard!"

Uh-uh-uh. Careful, Demon Killer." Said the man as he brought the knife closer to Kokoro's neck. "Wouldn't want a pretty face like hers to get hurt."

Dante finally got a good look at this man to see that it wasn't a man at all. It was a young Japanese man who spoke perfect English, and seemed about the same age as Dante. He had dirty blond short hair, violet eyes, and wore stylish glasses. However that was the only thing human about him as the rest of his body was nothing but a demon exoskeleton body of black armor, black sharp nailed hands and a sharp black armored tail.

"Who are you?" Kasumi demanded.

"Me? I'm no body important for the moment." The blond demon said with a smirk, "I'm just here to see what I'm dealing with. And frankly, I'm a bit disappointed in you two. Especially you Dante."

"Do I look like I give a fuck?" Dante said bitterly as he pointed a gun at him. "Now let go of Kokoro or I'm gonna give you somethin' to make a good review on in hell."

"Ooh, scary!" The blond chuckled but then held his evil smile. He increased the hold on Kokoro's breast and the pain made her groan in pain. "See that's why I like you Dante! You know just how to get under a demon's skin and just kill 'em dead. Good riddance to those cunts anyway. They served no purpose."

"What? How could you speak so rudely of your own brethren like that?-!" Kasumi argued, "Have you no honor?-!"

"Honor? Ha! Listen here, Ms. Femme Fatale; All I care about is my own goals. And that's to always be ahead of everyone and be stronger then everyone. And not be a fucking loser like you two." The blond smirked. "So in order to make things more interesting for me to win, how about we play a little game."

Dante and Kasumi looked at him with doubt as to believe him on this game or if it's just a trick to apprehend Kokoro.

"What game?" Dante questioned.

"I'm glad you asked!" He said. He then let go of Kokoro and pushed her back to the two as she slightly tripped but landed in Dante's arms. "The rules are simple. All you have to do is—"

"Bastard!" Kokoro yelled as she ran at the blond demon with no hesitation and attempted to palm hit him to the head, but by the time her palm hit at where he stood, he had vanished into thin air with no trace at all! Kokoro looked around along with Dante and Kasumi only to hear in the air; "Wow! Better keep that bitch on a leash, huh Dante?"

"Stop bein' a pussy and say that to my face!" Dante yelled out.

"Oh don't worry, I will." The blond haired demon's voice said, "But first, I want to explain the rules of the game. If you don't mind.

All three of them looked at each other for whether or not to take part in this sick bastard's game. Since they couldn't see him and they couldn't get out of Limbo on their own, they had no choice but to accept.

"Okay! We accept your game!" Kasumi announced, "Now name the terms."

"Alrighty then! He's how the game goes; you all must take a three day challenge to try and get to me. You'll have to deal with three different situations at your precious Nichisora High school and protect the students there as well. Each new challenge more life threatening then the last!"

"So it's just a stupid little kid's game you're playin'!" Dante exclaimed with a smile on his face. "Well bring it on! We'll beat your game, and then kick the living shit out of you!"

"Yeah, you bastard!" Kokoro also exclaimed but with anger, "No one grabs my breast and gets away with it!"

"Yet Dante did…" Kasumi mumbled.

"That was different!" Both Dante and Kokoro exclaimed simultaneously.

"Aww, that's cute!" The blonde's voice cooed, "You two say things at the same time!"

"No we don't!" Both said simultaneously, "Stop doing/doin' that! No, you stop doing/doin' that! Seriously knock it off!"

"Would you both stop doing that before it gets annoying?" Kasumi sighed.

"Too late." The voice mocked.

"Oh, fuck you!" Dante yelled.

"Fuck you." He mocked.

"Fuck you!-!"

"Dante, don't let your anger cloud your judgment." Kasumi warned. Though Dante didn't want to admit it, she was right. Getting mad is the last thing Dante needs to worry about as of now. He had an annoying demon that needed to die quickly. And Dante wanted to do it in the slow and most agonizing way possible. See if he's got shit to say then.

"Just get on with the rules!" Dante sighed.

"About time." The voice cleared his throat and continued, "Here's the rules, you got only three! Rule no. 1; no cheating! It's only gonna get you killed…faster. Now, rule no. 2; No surrendering. What fun is the challenge if you pussy out? And finally rule no. 3; you can't tell anyone what's going on! Okay then! Time for the conditions!"

"Conditions?" Kokoro repeated, "What conditions?"

"Easy! The "if-I-win-I-get-this-if-you-lose-you-get-death" policy! Now if you all somehow manage to win, which you won't, then I'll allow you to fight me once and for all!"

"And if you win?" Kasumi questioned.

"Oh, I LOVE when people ask that!"

Suddenly, Dante and Kasumi heard a terrible pain-filled shout in front of them and quickly looked to see that Kokoro was on her knees and grasping her chest in absolute pain and suffering. Her groans and agony were a breaking in both Dante and Kasumi's heart as she was dealing with undeniable suffering. Finally her shouting stopped and she removed her hand from her chest while panting with exhaustion. She looked at her chest and found a Japanese scribed word on her chest.

"It says…pain?" Kasumi translated.

"You got it!" The blonde's voice said excitedly, "You see you got three strikes if you cheat the game I've set up! If you cheat once, she'll feel the earlier pain from before. If you cheat again, that pain will be doubled! And one last time, and BOMB! Her heart will explode!"

Kokoro's eyes widened at that thought! "E-Explode?-!"

"That's right! And the only way to remove the affects is to kill me! Which will never happen!"

"Don't be too sure on that, asshole!" Dante pointed, "We'll get through this crap and save Kokoro from you demon bastards!"

"We'll see. Now then! We'll begin the countdown to the start of the game!

5…

4…

3…

2…

1…

START!-!"


	12. 12: School, Requests, and Reunions

**Hey everyone! OMG I am so sorry for being late like this! I really feel like a jerk for keeping so many waiting on me. But anyway, here I am and back with a new chapter and everything. When we last saw Dante and the others, they were set up to take place in an insidious game held by a demon, and must take part in all of this or Kokoro dies. It's gonna get pretty hectic for me because of college and such so I don't know when I'll actually update next time. But rest assured, I have not given up on this story at all.**

**Alright, here we go!**

***DISCLAIMER* I own nothing.**

**Chapter 12: School, Requests, and Reunions**

* * *

_**TOKYO**_

_**CLOSE TO NICHISORA HIGH SCHOOL**_

_**7:10 A.M. **_

"5…

4…

3…

2…

1…

START!-!"

Suddenly the entire world shifted so suddenly and all the buildings that were removed from the ground suddenly shifted even higher off the ground and were twisted around! The buildings along with the very ground of the city in the distance of them began to shift forward at them like a tidal wave coming towards them in a dangerous pace!

"Shit! We gotta run, now!" Dante exclaimed.

And run they did, as they ran the opposite direction of the tidal wave of buildings that was approaching them. All three ran as fast as they could, but it wasn't as simply as the ground under them began to violently shake and break apart behind them, with the bottom leaving a cloudy abyss! Even so the building tidal wave was dead on their tracks.

"Uh, guys! I think we need to really start thinking of a way out of Limbo! Like now!" Kokoro said frantically.

"No shit!" Dante yelled back, obviously this is part of that bastard demon's game and now we're smack dab in the middle of it!"

"We'll have to rely on other sources of escape!" Kasumi suggested as she ran ahead of the two and proceeded to leap off the ground on to the floating debris and jumped from one to the other swiftly.

"Gotcha! Hang on princess!" Dante smirked as he quickly grabbed Kokoro and held her bridal style and also leaped off the disintegrating ground on to the floating benches above. Soon they entered the other side of the city itself and as the leaped back onto more stable ground, Dante put Kokoro down and continued running forward!

"_Moa_! Can this get any worse?-!" Kokoro exclaimed between breaths.

"_**Oh, I thought you'd never ask!"**_

Suddenly they felt a horrid rumbling as the very buildings vibrated with intensity all around them. It was just as they feared as the buildings were now beginning to close in on them slowly but surely! The items within the building were crashing out of the windows and slamming to the ground as a way to slow them down!

"You just _had _to say somethin'!" Dante exclaimed irritably.

"Wait! Dante look!" Kasumi pointed towards the sudden appearance of a smaller building coming up in front of them with no way to jump of it in time before the buildings on the sides of them slammed together along with them in the middle.

"Oh, no you don't!" Dante proclaimed as he grabbed his handguns and aimed them at the building while they were still running towards it! He rapidly shot at the building, but wasn't planning to shoot the building in general, but instead aimed for the presumable lobby window that was wide enough for all three to go through! After a few shots, he was successful in breaking through the window and it shattered in on itself!

The buildings were only a few steps close as the three ran with relentless speed, only to finally jump through the broken window, just in time for the buildings to clamp shut on themselves with a loud slam!

"Well…" Kokoro panted tiredly, "That was…fun…"

"Naw that was just a practice run." Dante joked.

"Please don't joke of such things…" Kasumi sighed.

The three got back up and brushed themselves off and only looked forward to the only see a bright light at the end of a long hallway. That bright light turned out to be the way out once more to the other side of the building.

"Looks like that's our way out." Kokoro figured.

"No…That's too easy." Dante said cautiously.

Even so the three ran down the hallway and it appeared that it was a simple straight shot to get out of the building. Unfortunately, that was not the case as suddenly more of those earlier demons had suddenly appeared before them and were armed to the teeth with long blades and devilish grins! And if that wasn't bad, they also felt a familiar rumble once more as the walls of the building were closing as well!

"We won't make it!" Kasumi exclaimed gravely.

"Oh, yeah we will!" Dante said as he ran ahead and grabbed his sword from his back. He proceeded to hack away and slice through the demons with ease and hastily while also charging his way through them! Each demon fell at the blade of the black haired demon killer and their blood painting the incoming walls of the hallway. Finally they were dealt with once and for all and Dante put rebellion on his back once more while still running!

"Come on!" Dante yelled as he looked behind himself and extended his hand. Kasumi nodded and quickly grabbed Kokoro by the waist and ran faster to Dante until her hand had been grabbed by Dante's and with his strength, he threw Kasumi ahead of him as she crashed through the window and onto the ground on the other side! Dante had also jumped through that same window just in time for the walls in the hall to also slam shut!

"W-We made it…" Kokoro panted as she felt the konoichi's arm release from her waist.

"Well…at least we made it to the place we were supposed to go." Dante figured.

And right he was, as the three stood up to find themselves in the front of a tall standing gate that held within it a towering building that seemed to cover an acker or two with a very regal and sophisticated taste to how it was built and the rows of trees that stood on the sides of it. They could also see black shadows of the humans walking to the school.

"Nichisora High…" Kasumi said, "Said to be one of the most expensive and difficult schools to get into."

"_**And now you're just in time for the bell!"**_

The three looked around for the loud ominous voice as Kasumi drew her kunai knives and Dante grabbed his guns.

"_**Looks like I didn't make it as hard for you as I thought I did. Oh well, you learn from your mistakes."**_

"Enough of these words! Stop playing the role of the puppeteer and come out of hiding!" Kasumi demanded.

"_**In due time, perhaps. However, for now this game is just getting started! Congrats on keeping Ms. Schoolgirl there alive. And as such, here is your reward."**_

They began to fear as to what awaited them as a reward exactly, as this demon was obviously one of deception. They all suddenly felt a rumbling occur around them, and saw that buildinbgs were beginning to subside back to the ground, the wave of buildings that was coming after them had flattened back to the ground as normal buildings again, and the sky returned back to their normal speed of slow and steady. The people who were just dark shadows, returned to being normal human beings once more, and Dante noticed that his sword had also vanished from his back and receded into his back again. All the darkness and horrid feeling had disappeared instantly as it appeared they were back in the human realm.

"W-We're back!" Kokoro gasped.

"Yeah, but…why?" Dante wondered as he put his guns away. He looked around, in search of that blond demon, "And where'd that guy's voice go?"

"It seems his reward was our freedom from Limbo." Kasumi confirmed as she placed her blades in her bag. "But he will return. In the meantime, I don't think it's safe for us to continue going to Nichisora. I think its best we go back to the mansion."

"Better then stayin' somewhere where people could get involved." Dante agreed with a stretch of his arms, "We should turn back."

"What?-! No! We can't go back home!" Kokoro objected while still clutching her chest, "I don't want that ass hat demon going after my mother!"

"Would you rather the demons kill millions at your school?" Kasumi said sternly.

Kokoro was about to argue, but could only hold her mouth agape with no words escaping from her train of thought. She quickly silenced herself and had no choice but to take Kasumi's words into consideration. "No…but still…"

"It's the only place we have right now." Kasumi reasoned, "We need a place to regroup if only one of us is trapped in Limbo." Kasumi looked to Dante to ask; "Dante, tell me; is there any way for someone to jump into Limbo of their own free will?"

"Yeah, like I'd know that." Dante said sarcastically, "Why the hell would I want to break _into _Limbo when all I care about is breakin' out?"

"I'll take that as a no…" Kasumi sighed. She had to think of a way to somehow end this game, with as little possible fatalities as possible. This was a demon they were dealing with, and who knows what they can do outside Limbo. She's seen the effects of Limbo before and frankly, she wanted no soul to be a part of all this destruction. Plus there's a chance that Dante and her, and even Kokoro could be put on the wanted list by the law. They could leave town and go off somewhere far from the area so that no one would get caught in the cross fire. In fact she was sure that would be the only way to get through.

"Uh…guys…I don't think we have no other choice but to go to Nichisora…" Kokoro frightfully announced.

"What makes you say…that?" Dante's words faded as he and Kasumi joined Kokoro in staring at the ground as a message appeared before them, written in a red fluid that obviously looked and smelled of blood. The blood finally shifted into a full sentence before them as it said;

"_**You should also know that if the brunette school girl leaves the designated areas or even Japan for that matter during the games, the seal on her chest will immediately detonate and then KA-BOOM! Better be careful~"**_

Kokoro looked in absolute horror of the terrible situation she has befallen into. She was so shaken up and squeamish that she felt like she would throw up. She's seen bad situations before during the last DOA tournament, but this…this was to another tier. "N-No…! " Kokoro tremblingly said. She covered her mouth as she felt her tears glide down her cheek. "No…! I-I don't want to…!"

Dante could see the fear Kokoro was expressing. He honestly couldn't blame her. He wasn't exactly party crazy about seeing and fighting demons for the rest of his life either, but that's because he's been doing it for years. However he could only imagine the anxiety and panic Kokoro was going through compared to him.

Dante sighed deeply as he quickly grabbed Kokoro by the shoulders, to her surprise, and looked her straight in her glassy tear-filled eyes.

"D-Dan-chan…?" Kokoro struggled to say.

Dante was never much for comfort talk, nor was he much of a social man either, but he knew that Kokoro was dealing with something heavy for her species to handle, and did his best to make sure she wasn't in danger. "Don't worry, Kokoro." Dante said sternly, "No matter what happens, no matter what comes are way, no matter what that blond fuck nut does with this game…We're not gonna let anything happen to you." Dante assured Kokoro. "We'll protect you till that demon gets a good taste of my boomsticks here." Dante nodding to his guns on his waist, "So don't sweat it. Everything's gonna be fine."

Kokoro stared into Dante's determined gaze and could see the full conviction that was burning in them. She was amazed at how sure Dante was in coming out of all this alive. Even though she had doubts, he was still confident that they would live through it all despite the odds. Kokoro couldn't be a letdown to such a passion, and knew she had to be brave for her mother, Dante, Kasumi, and herself.

She dried the tears from her cheeks and eyes and now held the same confidence as Dante and nodded, "Yes. Arigato, Dan-chan."

Dante could now see she was burning with determination and felt a little more at ease knowing she was ready and raring to go. "Alright then." Dante smirked, "That's what I'm talkin' about." He removed his hands from her shoulders and walked over to grab his bag along with Kokoro's bag as well. "Then let's get over to that school."

Kasumi tossed Kokoro and Dante's bags to them, only for her to catch it and hold it firmly with a smile across her face and Dante to simply one-hand catch it. "Okay then." Kokoro said, "I'm ready to—!" Before anymore words could be said, they all heard a loud ringing of a bell out of nowhere, which made Kasumi and Kokoro jump, but Dante almost reached for his guns at the sound.

"What is that?" Kasumi asked.

"Uwaa!-!" Kokoro squealed frantically as she took a look at her wrist watch. "That's the first bell!-! We have to hurry into the building before the second bell rings!"

"Shit! Forgot about that!" Dante said.

"Well then let's hurry!" Kasumi suggested, "We don't want any mistakes while taking part of his game!"

And with that, the three ran into the gates of Nichisora High post haste and not a moment to lose. Even so, Kokoro could still feel a burning in her chest that was throbbing harshly with each step she took. Though able to ignore it effortlessly, it stayed as a reminder of not leaving Japan during these games, nor having the choice to participate or not. But even if she did, she'd never leave her friends to fight her battles. That was just the type of girl she was.

"Game on then…" Kokoro mumbled to herself.

_**TOKYO**_

_**UNKNOWN LOCATION**_

_**7:10 A.M. **_

The fresh scent of a delicate fragrant tickled her nose and allured her to slowly open her eyes to the sight of reality once more. She slowly arose and wiped the sand out of her eyes to the new day presented to her. Upon her discovery, she ended up finding herself in a small room with a single light shining on the ceiling. The room itself had a desk, a book shelf, and the room seemed quite bright in all around feel. But to her surprise, this wasn't at all her bedroom. She looked around to try and figure out what happened to her for her to end up here.

"What…what happened…?" She mumbled in her own language.

"I see you're up."

The woman quickly looked towards the door with her guard up. From inside, the outside of her room was a dark hallway with another door across from her that was closed. She could only assume there were more doors on the sides of her room. The voice itself was a male voice who spoke the same language she did with understandable pronunciation.

"Who is there?" The woman demanded.

"Relax, Ms. Douglas." The male voice said calmly, "I won't hurt you…I'd never hurt you."

Helena even so, still had a bad feeling to this situation. She was in a room she had no idea was, and a mysterious voice was speaking to her from outsider her door. Anyone would be worried at that point.

"I do not believe you." Helena said, brushing a lock of her platinum hair behind her ear, "How do I know that you are not dangerous?"

"Heh, you know me better than that to attack you in such a way." The male said.

"I…know you?" Helena questioned.

"You should…after all…it's only been three years." Suddenly a figure appeared from the side of her room and entered into the light of the bright room. He wore a black sweater, black dress pants, and black shoes. Upon seeing his face, Helena automatically looked into his eyes…those sky blue orbs staring into her blue orbs were too familiar of a sight to behold. His hair was brushed back and properly groomed along with his complexion being slightly pale. "…It's good to see you again."

Helena could not believe who was standing before her. She couldn't even speak a single word right away, nor could she move at all. Her hands went right to her mouth in surprise as she finally said his name; "Ve…Vergil…?"

Vergil walked to Helena's bed and sat on the side of it. And as soon as he sat, the two quickly wrapped their arms around each other in a tight embrace. Neither couldn't bear to let go even for a few seconds. It was too hard to dethatch from such a close person. Helena was overcome with emotions as she could feel the tears well up into her eyes, but she did her best to hold them back with each sniffle she made.

"I-It…it has been a long time…" Helena said gratefully in French, "…Your French has improved…"

"Study it every day." Vergil confessed in French, "Just to one day find you again."

Helena released Vergil as did he to take a good look at him; she was none the less, amazed at his growth all these years that have past. For her, it was as if she watched him grow right before her eyes.

"You have grown quite well." Helena admired in English, "I must say, it seemed only yesterday that you were this tall." Helena lifted her arm to the appropriate height, which would be to Helena's chest if she stood. "But now, you seem to have done well for yourself. And may I say, the years have been kind." Helena winked at Vergil.

"Oh, well thank you." Vergil smiled, "I must say, you look well yourself. Though I didn't show it when Ryu first carried you here, I was shocked to—"

"Wait. The ninja carried me here?" Helena interrupted.

"Yes." Vergil nodded, "Mila also joined him to make sure you were okay."

"Really? But what—?" Helena was about to ask her longtime companion, but suddenly as if begging to seep its way back into her subconscious, she quickly regained memory of what had happened the night before. It seemed she had indeed lost to Christie, but it also seemed that the ninja had saved her just in time before Christie could do whatever filth she planned to do. Even so, she could never forget the way that harlot touched her and how she pretty much had her own way with the platinum French woman, and she couldn't do a damn thing about it. She clutched her shoulders, feeling as if she was just tainted by a terrible demon and she didn't feel any sort of confidence anymore; nothing but vulnerability.

"Are you alright?" Vergil asked, placing a hand on Helena's shoulder.

"Y-Yes…" Helena nodded. "It was…Christie who I fought."

"I see. I've heard of that name more than once before." The white haired male nodded as he grasped his katana tightly. "It's because of her that this has happened to you. I'm sorry that you had to go through all that."

"It is no concern." Helena waved. "I am alright for the time being. Just allow me to rest a little more, and then we can talk more."

Vergil was hesitant in leaving her so unprotected like this. She was, after all, one of the few friends Vergil actually ever had, but she is also someone important to him as well as she helped him in a tight spot before. He, in a way, owed his life to her. The reason is still shrouded in mystery, but it is obvious that whatever she did to help him was very substantial.

"Very well." Vergil nodded as he finally rose from the side of the bed. "I'll wait until you're ready."

"Thank you, Vergil." Helena smiled appreciatively.

Vergil only nodded and walked to the doorway, but before he actually left, he looked over his shoulder to get one last look at the beautiful blond woman and said almost happily; "It really is good to have you back by my side."

"Yes. You as well..." Helena smiled as well. Vergil then turned forward and walked out of Helena's room, while closing the door as he stepped out. When the door finally closed all the way and the knob turned back to its original position, she then dropped her fake smile, and only held a concerned tenderness in her blue eyes towards the white haired man. "Vergil…I wonder how much of your humanity is still within you?"

She laid back onto her bed and slowly closed her eyes, drifting once again back to sleep.

_**TOKYO**_

_**Nichisora High School**_

_**7:15 A.M. **_

The final bell had sung as the students all went to their proper seats. The class itself was nothing special per say, however there was obvious money being spent into the class due to the desk being made of hickory wood and put in rows that lead upward like a college classroom, and the great view of the rest of Tokyo out of two large windows to the left of them, while the entrance was to the right.

Each of the students were chatting amongst themselves, wondering what today had in store for them. However, they had no idea how much danger would befall them soon at the hands of the demon running the whole Limbo game show, and poor Kokoro was just one of the contestants. Even so, she could only sit there, at her desk, and let things run their course.

"Koko-chan!"

Kokoro's attention was taken by her best friend calling for her. This attractive girl had long brown pig tails and green emerald eyes. She too wore the same uniform as Kokoro only hers had black long socks, and her buttons on her shirt revealed more cleavage.

"O-Oh, Haruhi-chan, _Ohayo_." Kokoro replied in Japanese.

"Koko-chan, are you okay?" Haruhi asked with concern. "I was worried something had happened to you since you were in the center of the city during that explosion! That was insane, wasn't it!-?"

"Explos—O-Oh, yeah! That explosion!" Kokoro lied with a meek smile and clutching her chest, "Yeah, I'm glad I was already on the train when that happened."

"Yeah, lucky you." Haruhi sighed of relief. "But I recently heard some bigger news around here." She whispered as she grinned excitedly to share the news with her raven haired friend. "Apparently, we've got two new students here! And one of them's foreign _AND _a boy! I hope he's cute!"

"I don't think he's your type…" Kokoro waved lazily.

"What makes you say that?"

"Well…"

Kokoro was interrupted as the door slid open and entered in a senior male whose hair was going bald but his body was a bit weighted. He donned the khaki suit and glasses, and a mustache to top it all off. "Okay then you guys." The old man said with a smile, "Home room will now begin."

Everyone complied as each individual student took their respectable seats in their rows and looked forward attentively towards their teacher's teaching podium.

"Now that we've become situated, let's get right to it then." The elderly teacher announced, "Though short notice, I am pleased to announce that we indeed have two new students attending the Nichisora High, class 3-A." Instantly the class began to buzz with whispers and gossip being proven correct. They all came to a halt at the sound of the teacher's light clapping. "Now, now. I haven't even introduced them yet. So then, please treat these students well as I bring one in at a time. You may enter."

The door slid open as the students got a fist gander at the first new student to enter their class. They were almost amazed and astounded at the appearance of such a beautiful and graceful girl. Her long copper hair was lush and flowing even as it was held in a long pony tail. And her hazel eyes burned with sheer grace and beauty beyond words. Her figure was more than noticeable even in the school uniform, but all the uniform really did was make note of her female assets.

She stopped at the side of the teacher's podium, wearing a graceful and warm smile as she bowed and introduced herself. "It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance. My name is Haruko Matsunaga. It's a pleasure to meet you all."

"Yes! It's a girl!" Called out one of the boys. Accompanying him were more boys who were excited and talked amongst themselves in amazement at how beautiful she was.

"Wow, and she's way cute!"

"What a babe!"

"Oh yeah, I gotta get me some of that."

Kokoro sighed at how easily her class's male side can get so interested in a girl so quickly. Though she couldn't be too surprised as she did admit that Kasumi was a rare find in terms of girls now days. Plus, she was also a ninja who could probably storm through sporting events and become a legend. But for now, she was just Haruko Matsunaga.

"Okay, settle down!" The teacher said with a sigh as he looked towards Kasumi once more. "Now then, Ms. Matsunaga please take a seat on the second row to the left."

"Yes." Kasumi nodded, as she walked over to her seat, with male eyes following her with lusting and amorous intentions in mind if one of them were ever alone with her and given the chance they wanted. She finally took a seat in her desk, and looked towards the door along with Kokoro, which was on the far right on the third row, in hopes that a certain male would be okay like this.

"Now then, I will introduce the second transfer student." The teacher said after calming the boys down. "You may enter."

"Yeah, yeah…"

Since the door was already opened, the second transfer student walked in. This student was male, but he was obviously from a different country due to the way he looked and the crew cut black hair with the sides shaved and Mohawk forming from the top of his head, tapering off at the nape of his neck. His very presence held something of a dark side to him from the light blue cold eyes or the sheer way he walked of a tough upbringing. His arms carried a muscular tempting but still limber enough to be wrapped around. His very face wasn't beyond gorgeous but carried a handsome rebellious look that good girls just swoon over.

He too stood by the podium and said with a smirk on his face. "Well nice to meet all of ya." He said in Japanese but in a more Yankee pronunciation. "The name's Jack Redgrave. Good to be here."

Instantly the girls talked amongst themselves as they giggled and blushed at this American man's bad boy style and alluring uniqueness.

"Wow! He's too cool!"

"Those mysteries eyes and that air about him! He's a total hottie!"

"I so need to hang out with him more."

Kasumi was honestly surprised at the attention he was receiving from the female students simply by the way he looked and seemed to present from his untucked shirt from under his school sweater to the bands on his wrist. She herself didn't think much of his looks and just looked at him as someone to help her find ALPHA, but seeing him now; he really wasn't that bad looking.

Kokoro on the other hand was a bit irritated at all these female students fawning over him. It wasn't the fact that they were attracted to him that annoyed her, but the fact that Dante was, in her own way, _hers _first.

"Alright, alright settle down." The teacher said as he turned to Dante, "So then, Mr. Redgrave, please take a seat in the last row to the right."

"Whatever." Dante shrugged. He strolled on to his own desk, all while winking and smirking at the girls he passed by, who were giggling or blushing the second his eyes went to them.

Kasumi sighed to herself as she thought; "_Jeez, what a show off…_" She quickly eyed Kokoro to see if she felt the same feelings towards this, only to find she was eying Dante in both desperation and intently, as if to get his attention.

"_Notice me, Dan-chan! NOTICE ME!_" Kokoro yelled mentally.

Dante had finally taken a seat and instinctively propped his feet onto his desk, while sitting back. He looked at the entire class from the back seat and saw that some of the males gave him a mixture of anger and fear, while a few girls were staring at him in a swooning fashion. Kokoro stared at him intently, to which he immediately looked away to Kasumi. He kept his eyes on her with a pensive manner, not letting his sight waver. He knew that she had more to give then she was letting on, and he was definitely going to find out what.

"_There's more to you than meets the eye…_" Dante thought with a small smirk on his lips, "_Too bad for you, I got a few secrets of my own…_"

"Okay the, let's get class started." The teacher instructed.

And with that, a school day began.

_**JAPAN**_

_**MUGEN TENSHIN VILLAGE**_

_**7:20 A.M. **_

The sun shined a great deal over the hidden Mugen Tenshin village, allowing crops to grow properly, and the workers in the crop fields to work up the good sweat that they need. Back in the literal village, children were running around playing tag, while the adults were shopping for food along with supplies or chatting amongst themselves while laughing and speaking of outside the village.

However one certain konoichi wasn't enjoying the time of the sun, as she had no intention of even leaving her darkened straw floored room at all that day. She decided to strip herself of her ninja clothes and was down to a corset and her panties. Ayane layed there, looking up at the roof in deep thought at the words spoken by her own half sister; they punctured her deeply, even though she was the one who was suppose to be instilling this pain into Kasumi.

That scene constantly played over and over in her head, making her grab her forehead in pain.

"Damn you…!" Ayane hissed, "Damn you, Kasumi…!"

However in the mist of remembering such a sad memory, there was one thing that stuck out; Dante. Kasumi had said that she was saved by him. If that's true, it's only right that she at least thank him somehow. From what she remembers from New York, she did hear a voice before she fully fell unconscious. She also saw a bit of the actual man. His black hair, the bit of the coat she saw on him. The sword he had…that sword…why was it so familiar to her?

Either way, Ayane sat up and decided to not linger within the dark room any longer. She stood up and grabbed one of her purple silk robes and finally opened the door, letting the light slightly blind her. After walking into the sun's gaze, she got more use to it and could see the villagers doing their own work or kids playing together.

Ayane of course smiled at the peace that resided within the village for a temporary time, but this wasn't what she came out for. She strolled through the sand in her sandals, to the oldest and decretive shrine that was the shrine of the leader of the Mugen Tenshin ninja, and her own brother. She left her shoes at the door, and bowed respectfully before opening the door and walking in.

Inside she saw the wooden interior with different scrolls lying around and a katana set sitting in the small opening where a long scroll of a scripture hung. In the middle of the room kneeled a small group of people dressed in white robes who seemed to be working with great effort.

"Ah, Ayane." Called a young man's voice from across the room. She looked to see it was her brother, Hayate, sitting on his knees, sipping tea while reading a small novel.

"Hayate-sama." Ayane said as she walked to him. "Who are these people?"

"Ah, they are the finest tailors." Hayate answered as his purple haired sister took a seat next to him. "I've instructed them to repair something as a sort of thank you to someone."

"A thank you?" Ayane questioned.

"Yes. I don't think that you would know who I am referring to, but I owe him my gratitude for not only saving me, but saving you as well." Hayate took a small sip of his tea and continued, "And not only that, but he also took place in a battle that raged in Tokyo last night…but I'm sure you already saw the damage."

Ayane's eyes widened in astonishment for a few seconds! How her own older brother found out she was there is a shock on its own. But even so, she lowered her head in shame at her disobedience. "P-Please forgive me, Hayate-sama…I just…"

"Now, now. It's quite alright." Hayate smiled with an assuring wave. "All I care about is making sure you are okay…Just as I care for Kasumi's safety in all this as well."

"Hayate-sama! You know of Kasumi as well?-!" Ayane said in even more astonishment at her brother's knowledge.

"But of course." Hayate nodded, "Zack informed me. And I could only guess that Helena convinced Dante to join her and therefore Kasumi as well. Most likely it has all to do with these demons appearing."

"You know his name?" Ayane noted.

"I have my sources." Hayate smiled.

"Well…do you think this _Dante_ guy has anything to do with all these demons?" Ayane asked her copper haired older brother.

"I'm not sure…" Hayate confessed, "However, I do know that He has some relation to a legend known as "Sparda". But that's impossible as Sparda disappeared millenniums ago. Plus, the story of Sparda was nothing but a myth."

"Maybe…it wasn't a myth at all." Ayane questioned. "What if Sparda really did exist, and that guy's like, his son or something?"

Hayate put that to thought. What if that black haired fellow was indeed the son of Sparda? Would that mean he's the only one who could really kill these demons? If so, he could be of great use to the Mugen Tenshin clan. However, Hayate could tell that convincing him to join a group of ninjas wasn't going to be an easy task to accomplish. Even so, he had no other options at the moment. The fate of his village and the lively hood of many civilians were all counting on this.

"His son…the son of Sparda…" Hayate uttered.

"Hayate-sama."

Hayate was pulled from his train of thought at the announcement of one of the tailors.

"Is it complete as I described it?" Hayate asked.

"Yes." The white robed tailor nodded. "We've recreated it in the description that you requested."

Hayate stood up with Ayane quickly following after him. The two looked at the floor to see something lying on a long white cloth; it was a black hooded leather coat with red interior, and a bit of red on the lower cufflinks. There was also a union jack on the left arm.

"It's perfect." Hayate nodded.

"How were they able to craft an entire coat in only one night?" Ayane questioned.

"Even I don't question the mastery of these tailors." Hayate smiled, "But their work always comes out in perfection."

"You are too kind, my lord." Another tailor in white said. "As a bonus, we've also enchanted it with a special herb, allowing it to take harsh treatment, but still stay intact."

"Good." Hayate nodded as he kneeled to take the coat. He then stood up, and examined the coat in its entire wrinkled leather splendor. "I shall deliver it to him post haste."

"No!" Ayane blurted out, but caught herself from spilling too much of her thoughts. "I-I mean, Hayate-sama, allow me to do this favor."

"Are you sure, Ayane?" Hayate asked, "This seems like a bit of a burden for you to do."

"It's no burden at all." Ayane assured him sternly, "Any mission you assign is an honor to fulfill." She placed her hand on her chest with confidence. "I will deliver the coat to Dante."

Hayate looked at Ayane for a few seconds, then to the coat in deep thought. Hayate did have other preparations to focus on, and delivering a coat could get in the way of all that. He needed to get everything situated now. He looked back at Ayane and nodded, "Okay then. I trust you to deliver this as quickly as possible. Please, hurry, Ayane."

"Yes, Hayate-sama." Ayane bowed.


End file.
